Let's turn together to 2 John. Though John's name does not appear
in this brief epistle, it's obvious as you read the words of the
epistle that it was written by the same man who penned the gospel
of John and the book of 1 John. The words are so similar, the
theme is so consistent. John's purpose in writing this
short epistle, just 13 verses, is to exhort us and encourage
us to continue in the truth and in the faith of the gospel, to
walk in love to God and to one another, and to avoid false teachers
and their doctrine. Let's begin in verse 1. 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, which dwelleth
in us, and shall be with us forever. Grace be with you and mercy and
peace from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the
Son of the Father, in truth and in love." Now, John addresses
this epistle in an unusual way, to the elect lady. Did you ever
pause to think what word, what one term is used most often in
the New Testament to describe God's people in this world. We
generally talk about saved people, we talk about Christians, we
talk about Saints, we talk about Believers. God's people are called
Christians just three times in the New Testament. Believers
just twice, just twice. They are called Saints forty
times. But next to the word God's people are referred to most often
in the New Testament as the elect. And really the word saints means
virtually the same thing. It means those who are separated.
And God's people are separated unto him by the blessed election
of grace. How things have changed. So commonly
known, so commonly rejoiced in, in the early church, was the
doctrine of God's free electing love, that it was common for
believers to address one another as the elect. And they knew exactly
what they were saying. The elect are those chosen of
God in eternity in Jesus Christ the Lord, chosen unto eternal
salvation. I might not start doing it, lest
I sound terribly odd. But then again, I might just
start calling you the elect. And when I do, remember, I'm
telling you, my brother, God loved you with everlasting love. Jesus Christ chose you as his
own, and you would not choose him otherwise. He called you
by the blessed spirit of grace and adoption, causing you to
cry out to God, And the reason you believe is because you are
the elect. Many suggest that this elect
lady was a certain believing woman. In fact, most of the commentators
that I highly regard suggest that. They suggest that John
wrote this epistle to this believing woman and her believing children.
Perhaps that's the case. In Christ there is neither male
nor female. Male and female are one in him.
And it is certain that our Lord Jesus seems to give special care
for and attention to certain believing women. He spoke of
his grace in going to the Samaritan woman by whom God called many
from Samaria. Mary and Martha, like their brother
Lazarus, were loved of the Lord. There was a woman with an issue
of blood who touched the Master, and he said, I've never seen
such faith as this. That Syro-Phoenician woman came and brought her daughter
to the Lord Jesus, believing him, and he said there's been
no faith like this displayed in Israel. Our Lord gives great
prominence to and great care to believing women. So it shouldn't
surprise us at all if this epistle were written to a distinct woman.
Many think that because we insist upon the teaching of Scripture
with regard to women not being pastors and deacons and so on,
women keeping silence in the Church somehow, that's a degradation
to womanhood. I recall when Herb Brock got
hold of my book on the Church and did a review of it. He said,
according to Pastor Fortner, there's no room for women in
the Church of God. Wrote it in the paper. No point
in trying to explain, none at all. Oh, no, no, no, no. Our
Lord Jesus spoke of that woman who anointed his feet for the
burial and said, wherever people preach the gospel to the end
of the world, this woman shall be honored. You see, God's people
are honored of God because he honors his Son, and we are honorable
to God in his Son. whether we be old or young, men
or women, all believers are honored of God. Having said that, I think John
uses this term, the elect lady, to refer not to a specific woman,
but to a local church. And I say that because in the
next epistle, John addresses a specific man and calls him
by name. and commends him for the very
thing he commends this elect lady for. He uses the term then,
elect lady, to refer to the church of God. It really doesn't matter
which church, or whether we say this is an epistle written to
a specific lady. It's really insignificant, because
it's written to God's people everywhere. You see, God's is
his elect lady. God's elect are chosen of him,
loved of him, married to him. We're not told when this epistle
was written or where, but there again that really is immaterial.
It is written of God, fresh and new, to you and me today who
walk in truth. It's addressed to God's people
as believers walking in this world, walking in the light,
walking in truth, that is, walking in Jesus Christ the Lord. The
elder, he says. John calls himself the elder
here for two reasons. First, he wrote this epistle
when he was well over a hundred years old. John was an old man
when he wrote this epistle, and he was also a gospel preacher. He was himself a pastor, an elder
in the church of God. He speaks to this elect lady,
whom I love in the truth. He expresses here a sincere,
heartfelt love for this elect lady and her children, whom he
and his companions loved in the truth, hearing that they walked
in the truth. I don't know for sure whether
John knew this church personally or not, but he had heard that
their children walked in the truth. And he speaks of great
joy he and his companions had for those who loved the truth
and are found walking in the truth. You see, believers love
all men as men. But God gives his elect special
love for those who are in the family of faith. Those who are
themselves believers, we seek to do good to all men, but especially
to them that believe. We bear one another's burdens,
weep with those who weep, and rejoice with those who rejoice.
I can illustrate it for you. Saturday morning, Brother Tommy
Robbins got a call, no, Sunday afternoon, got a call from his
daughter. She had just listened to three of his tapes, his oldest
daughter April. saw he had tears in his eyes
when he hung up the phone and said goodbye. I said, everything
all right? He said, oh yeah, couldn't be
better. As she hung up the phone, she
told me she had just listened to three of his tapes. She said,
I just called to tell you I'm so thankful God made you my daddy. I had tears in my eyes, too.
What could be better? God's people rejoice with one
another and weep with one another. We bear one another's burdens
and enjoy one another's joys. Notice the connection between
John's love for God's saints here and their love for the truth. Those who love Christ, who is
the truth, love all who walk in the truth. We love one another
for Christ's sake. It is he who dwells in us and
abides with us forever. And notice this too. John speaks
to God's elect with great confidence, as well as with tenderness and
affection. The elect lady, as he calls her,
had in her election all the blessings, benefits, and effects of election. In other words, when John says,
you are elect of God, think of what all that comprehends. All the truth revealed in the
gospel. To be elect of God is to be loved
of him. To be elect of God is to be predestined
unto the adoption of children. To be elect of God is to be called
by his grace. To be elect of God is to be freely
justified by his grace. To be elect of God is to be redeemed
by the precious blood of Christ and pardoned of all sin, accepted
in the beloved unconditionally and accepted forever, immutably,
in Christ Jesus the Lord. Then he says in verse 2, for
the truth's sake. The word truth is found five
times in the first four verses of this epistle. It refers both
to Christ, who is the truth, and to the doctrine of Christ,
the truth revealed in him. The truth cannot be separated. You cannot separate Christ from
truth. Write it down, and sometime you're
going to hear it. You cannot separate Christ from
truth. You cannot separate Christ from
the doctrine of Christ. Any man who comes and talks about
loving Christ and worshiping Christ and preaching Christ,
who denies the truth Christ teaches, does not know, worship and love
the Son of God, our Savior. Any man who talks about preaching
Christ and loving Christ and believing on Christ, who denies
the doctrine of Christ, does not know, worship, love and trust
our Redeemer. Christ is the truth, and all
truth is found in Him. Truth is Christ himself. He said
God is spirit, and they that worship him must worship him
in spirit and in truth. He said you shall know the truth,
and the truth shall make you free. Our Lord Jesus then said,
I am the truth. I am the truth. Pilate asked
the Lord what is truth, because he couldn't see it, though standing
right in front of him, and he testified himself before him.
Christ dwells in us, and we dwell in him. And his truth abides
in us. His word abides in us forever. Now look at verse 3. John gives
a salutation. It is a salutation much like
that given by the apostle Paul and other apostles. But John
characteristically adds something. Look at it. He says, Grace be
with you, mercy and peace. These three things always go
together. They come from God our Father,
and from the Lord Jesus Christ. But John adds something, the
Son of the Father in truth and love. It seemed that John had
a special concern about constantly identifying Jesus Christ of Nazareth,
the man who was nailed to the cursed tree, as God the Son. And he seized every opportunity
set before him throughout his writings to declare the eternal
deity of Jesus Christ, the God-man, one with the Father, in love
and in truth. Here are two things that cannot
be separated. They are used inseparably in
this epistle. They are companions. They can't
be parted. God is light, that is, God is
truth, and God is love. The two can't be separated. Let
them ever be united in our minds and in our hearts. Truth without
love is stern, cold, hard, and cruel. Truth without love is stern,
cold, hard, and cruel. It makes people downright mean. Love without truth, if such could
be possible, is unstable, without foundation. constantly changing,
constantly shifting. Look at verse 4. I rejoiced greatly
that I found thy children walking in truth, as we have received
a commandment from the Father. God's children rejoice when they
find others who are God's children walking in truth. Every now and
then it's my privilege to run across a preacher, a congregation,
a believer, here or there, various parts of the world. I've been
around a long time, and after a while you begin to think, well,
I know everybody who walks with God. I am constantly reminded,
not yet, not yet, I meet somebody else walking in truth, one who
believes God. An assembly tucked away back
in the mountains of North Carolina, an assembly tucked away here
or there, believing and worshiping our God, walking in truth. John
said, I rejoiced when I found thy children walking in truth.
David said this, low children are an heritage of the Lord and
the fruit of the womb is his reward. Now apply those words
as we may to an individual household and see cause for great joy to
any mother or father. To see our children walking in
truth is, I suppose, the greatest boon, the greatest blessing we
can experience in this world as God Saints. When they are
blessed with grace, we are blessed with grace. A Syro-Phoenician woman counted
it grace and mercy to her, for the Lord to have mercy on her
daughter. She said, Lord, have mercy on me, for my daughter
is grievously vexed with the devil. Even when that is not
the case, even when we must, like David, look over our sons
and daughters with sorrow, seeing nothing but Absalom's, Adonijah's,
and Ammon's coming from our Lord's, let us as we sigh, although my
house be not so with God, rejoice in his covenant order and all
things ensure, and know full well that his house is full and
shall be full. Apply this to a pastor looking
over a local church that he served, or a church with which he has
any connection. And the same joy is the expression of a faithful
pastor's heart and love. You see, God's servants dance
in their hearts when we see his children walking with Christ
in the blessed truth of Christ as it's revealed in the gospel. not just professing truth. I know a lot of people around
the world who profess truth. I know a few who walk in truth,
who walk with Christ continually, steadily, progressively walking
with him toward heavenly glory, walking with him. It brought
great joy to the apostle's heart to find the children of this
elect lady walking in truth, living day by day in a continual
spirit, attitude, and conversation which revealed Christ was in
them, and revealed their devotion to him. That not only professed
to know Christ, but by their conduct, by their day by day
conversation, revealed in a living union with him, they showed that
they walked with Christ. This is the commandment we've
received from the Father, that we walk with him in truth and
in love, one for another. He has showed thee, O man, what
is good. What doth the Lord require of
thee? But to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with
thy God. Now I apply this to every aspect
of our lives. Let me speak to you just like
I'd pull up a chair and sit down beside you and just talk just
to you. Bob Duff, every decision you make, when you weigh a word
or an action, do mercy and justice and walk in love, in truth, with
God Almighty. walking with your God humbly,
knowing who you are, sinner saved by his grace, be merciful to
me, and deal with them uprightly." Deal with them uprightly. That doesn't mean deal with them
as law demands they be dealt with. No. Deal with them as you
ought to deal with them as a child of God. That which applies to
civil magistrates and the punishment of crimes and offenses does not
apply to God's children in dealing with their enemies. Deal with
them in mercy, do what's right Walk with God, humbly, recognizing
that you and they are the same stuff, except that God Almighty
has been gracious to you. Do what's right. Look at chapter,
I'm sorry, number one chapter, verse five, verse five. And now I beseech thee, lady,
Not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we
had from the beginning, that we love one another." Our Lord
Jesus in John 13 said, A new commandment I give you. But it
wasn't really new. He just comes and reveals it
to us fresh. It had been hidden in the religious
legalism of the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the lawyers
and the scribes, and the Lord Jesus brings it to light. John
tells us plainly, this is the commandment we had from the beginning.
The whole law was fulfilled in this one thing, that you love
one another. Love one another. Look in chapter
3 of 1 John, verse 16. It's not some kind of an ambiguous
thing. How do you love one another? Well, somebody says, well, he
loves me in his own way, fully on his way. Either love God's
way or you don't love. Look at it. Hereby perceive we
the love of God, because he laid down his life for us. How do
you see God's love? He, God Almighty, Jesus Christ
our Savior, laid down his life for us. That's what love is. It's the giving up of your life
for another. Give up your rights. Give up
what you think is rightful to you. Give up your choices. Give up your pleasures for another. Husbands, love your wives as
Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. That
doesn't mean you ought to give yourself for your wife, it means
give yourself for her. Lay down your life for her. This
doesn't mean we ought to lay down our lives for our brethren.
It means, Bobby, let's lay down our lives for each other. Look
at it. And we ought to lay down our
lives for the brethren. Not just be willing to, do it.
But whoso hath this world good, and seeth his brother hath need,
and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, have brother
the love of God in him. It's a farce. My little children
Let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in
truth. As you have received Christ Jesus
the Lord, so walk ye in truth." How sweetly the life of grace
in Christ leads to a life of love one for another. Brother
Darryl McClung, who is with the Lord in glory now, used to come
visit us, and he had a constant saying with which he liked to
rib me before my friends. He'd say, Don and Shelby get
along so well because they both love the same person. He'd point
his finger at me and say him. There's more truth than fiction,
I'm afraid. But we will get along well. Now
listen to me. We will get along well if we
both love him. And if we don't get along well,
it's because somebody doesn't love him. The love John's talking about
is not a mere feeling or emotion warm feelings about God and warm
emotions about God and one another, we cannot love one another and
walk in love with one another unless we walk in truth. If we
don't walk with Christ in the truth he reveals in his word,
we cannot walk in love one with another. And this is love, that
we walk after his commandments. That is, we walk in accordance
with his revealed will. This is the commandment, that
as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it. Now look
at verse 7. 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. Now what is John talking about? What's he talking about? He's
saying that everyone who confesses not that Jesus Christ is come
in the flesh is a deceiver, an antichrist. Antichrist is not
some political figure that's to arise at a certain period
of time and act like hell. That's not Antichrist. I've heard
folks over the years, and I haven't been around as long as some,
but I've been around a while, I've heard folks say that Joseph Stalin
was Antichrist, I've heard folks say that Eleanor Pitt was Antichrist,
I've heard folks say that Fidel Castro was Antichrist, and I've
heard them identify many others as Antichrist. All have shown
themselves wrong. What's he talking about? Antichrist
is any system of religion that denies that Jesus has come in
the flesh. Does that mean that a person
gets up and says, well, I don't believe that Jesus is really
the Son of God? I don't believe that God actually
took on himself human flesh? No. That certainly is included,
but he ain't much of a deceiver. He ain't much of a deceiver.
Not likely that anyone raised with any instruction at all in
the gospel is going to be deceived by some fool, infidel, who gets
up and denies the incarnation and virgin birth of Christ, or
denies his eternal deity. Folks who are deceived by such
are willfully ignorant. What's he talking about there?
He's talking about those who deny that Jesus, the man who
was put to death by the Jews at Calvary 2,000 years ago, is
the Christ, and that he as the Christ has accomplished everything
this book said the Christ would accomplish. Let's turn to two
passages. Turn, if you will, to Daniel
chapter 9. Daniel chapter 9, verse 24. John said in chapter 2 of 1 John,
little children, it's the last time. You've heard that antichrist
shall come, even now are there many antichrists, whereby we
know it's the last time. In Daniel 9 verse 24, the prophet
says, 70 weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy
holy city to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin. to make
reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness,
and to seal up division and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy."
Now, you might think, well, this is talking about the deliverance
of Israel out of Babylon. That was just a picture of what
it's talking about. The very next verse tells you it's talking
about Messiah, the Prince. Those whom John describes as
Antichrist, deny that the Lord Jesus Christ actually finished
the transgression and made an end of sins. They merely declare
that it is now possible for transgression to be finished and sins to be
ended if you will do something. They deny that he actually brought
in everlasting righteousness by which God's elect stand before
him in perfect righteousness. They denied that he fulfilled
all the prophets. That is, that he sealed up the
vision. Everything written in the prophets
concerning him, he sealed it up. When he said it is finished,
it was finished. The work was done totally. He
put a period to it all. He sealed up the prophecy. And
he was anointed as Lord over all, most holy, because he had
finished his work. Look in Isaiah 53, verse 10. What was written in the vision?
What is written in the prophets? It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He hath put him to grief. When thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong
his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his
hands. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquity." Now,
either he justified them or he didn't. Most will tell you he
made it possible for them to be justified if they would pretty
please believe. Most will tell you that he wants
to see his seed. The book says he shall see his
seed. Our Lord Jesus, by his death at Calvary, satisfied every
demand of divine justice in the womb instead of his people. Now
listen, justice shall now satisfy him. Justice shall give him his
seed. The prophet says he shall see
his seed. He shall see them brought out.
out of bondage and prison and corruption. He shall see them
brought in, brought into his kingdom, brought into his glory,
brought into his grace, brought into the knowledge of him. He
shall see them brought up, taught, educated by his grace, protected,
cared for and provided for, and he shall finally see them all
brought home, brought home to glory by him. Now, look at verse
8, back here in 2 John 2. All who deny, either in word
or in doctrine, and I'm stating what I want to state deliberately.
All who deny, either in word or in doctrine, by statement
or implication, and just in case you're not putting the two together,
anybody who makes salvation in any way could be dependent on
you. any way conditioned on you, deny
the efficacy of Christ's finished work, deny that he has saved
his people, that he has obtained eternal redemption, that he has
put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, is antichrist and
a deceiver. Now look what it says. Look to
yourselves that we lose not those things which we have wrought,
but that we receive a full reward. what an exhortation. John calls
for the elect lady and her children to look about them, to beware,
lest these Antichrists and their doctrine take them away from
the hope that's in Christ. Paul wrote to the Corinthians
and said, I fear Lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled
Eve through his subtlety, so your mind should be corrupted
from the simplicity that's in Christ. Turned away from Christ
alone. Turned to some other hope other
than Christ singular, Christ by himself, the simplicity that's
in Christ. We must take care not to throw
away those things we have wrought by faith, those things we profess
to have been wrought in us by grace, and lose our own souls. If we depart from the gospel
of Christ, if any depart from the gospel of Christ, there remains
no more sacrifice for sin. Any turn from grace to works,
he makes Christ of none effect to his soul, and he has fallen
from grace altogether. If we would stand fast, we must
persevere in the faith of the gospel, in the truth, in the
doctrine of Christ. We must be steadfast and unmovable,
firm to the end. And this is the full reward which
he shall give us, everlasting glory. Now look at verse 9. Whosoever transgresseth and abideth
not in the doctrine of Christ, Now these are not my words. If
I said them, folks would say, well, I expect that, he's mean,
hard, divisive, full of strife and contention. These are not
my words. These are the words of that man
who's called the Apostle of Love. These are the words of God the
Holy Spirit. Whosoever transgresseth and abideth
not, continues not in the doctrine of Christ, Hath not God. Never did and doesn't now. He that abideth in the doctrine
of Christ, he that stays with the doctrine. He that stays in
the doctrine, he that continues to look to Christ alone as his
Lord, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption, savior,
substitute, purity, he who continues to trust Christ alone for acceptance
with God, he hath the Father and the Son. The person who denies the doctrine
of Christ denies his person. denies that he is indeed God
Almighty. For if you deny that he has done
what he came here to do, if you deny that he has accomplished
what he came here to accomplish, you do in effect deny that he
is God, for you declare him to be a failure. And the Lord God
said, Behold my servant, he shall not fail. Any God that tries
and can't isn't God. Any God that puts his hand to
something that doesn't accomplish it is nothing but an idolatrous
figment of man's depraved imagination, and you may as well worship a
stump and drink the stump water and call it holy water, as to
worship this and call it God. Jesus Christ, our God, has accomplished
his work. To deny the doctrine of Christ
is to deny the efficacy of Christ as our mediator, our surety,
our prophet, our priest, our king. It is to deny his efficacious
obedience unto death as our redeemer. This is the doctrine of King
Messiah, the doctrine of redemption, eternal life and eternal glory
by him alone. The man who abides in the truth
has both the Father and the Son. And he has an interest in God
Almighty, steadfast and sure. But what do we do with these
antichrists? Oh, brother Don, we want to be nice, we don't
want to offend anybody. I'll be honest with you, this
high time somebody stood up and spoke so plainly that folks who
offend God are offended by what we say. What did he say? If there comes any man, anyone
under you, Anyone. They're not talking about your
unbelieving son or daughter come home or your unbelieving neighbor
come over and have a cup of coffee. Somebody comes to your house,
Larry Brown, who denies the doctrine of Christ. Somebody come in seeking
to teach some other doctrine. This is what he's talking about.
And bring not this doctrine. Some preacher, religious teacher.
I hear folks all the time, they talk about these Russellites
coming in or Armenians coming in, I don't care which it is.
Coming in and, well, I like to debate with them. That's nothing
but flesh and fulfilling the lust of the flesh. Don't receive
them into your house. Don't give them common courtesy.
Don't show them common courtesy so as to give them any indication
that you accept or respect them as men who believe God. Read
what it says. Receive him not into your house,
neither bid him God speak. I've had fellows come into my
office and want to just cuss me out because of what I believe
and preach. I mean, just want to read me out, and then get
done and say, well, let's pray together. I say, I ain't praying
for you. No, I ain't praying for you. Oh, you wouldn't pray
for them? No. Pray God will shut them up.
Pray for God's blessings on them? Help them? Somebody says, I hear this not
too often, but I mean, I grit my teeth and bite my tongue plumb
off to keep from saying something. Well, I don't always keep from
saying something. I talked about one of our missionaries, does
he believe the gospel? What an insult to me. I ain't giving
a dime to any preacher who doesn't. I'll pay his way home, that's
all. I'm not supporting him. I'm not tipping my hat toward
him and saying, oh brother, God bless you. That's what he's talking
about here. need to be in God's speed. Don't help them. Now look
at verse 11. I hear folks all the time, well
I stayed there, he said some good things, and I can't help
what he does. He that did it in God's speed
is partaking with his evil deeds. I'll tell you what you do. Tell
you what you do, Sammy. Your neighbor Hatch has a plan
to rob Farmer's National Bank down here tomorrow, and you decide,
no, I can't do that, I wouldn't be caught dead in there with
a gun, but I'll tell you what I'll do, I'll drive the car for
you. You see if they don't arrest you for robbing the bank. Aid in the bailing, you're as
guilty as he is. And if you support those who despise the gospel
of God's free grace and preach another gospel, it's as though
you yourself were involved in denying God's gospel and preaching
another. There's no excuse for it. He
that biddeth him God's speed is partaker with his evil deeds. Now, look at John's conclusion.
Having many things to write unto you, I would not with paper and
ink, But I trust to come to you and speak to you face to face."
This old pastor, he said, I might have another sermon in me and
I want to come talk to you. I want so much to come visit
you one more time and speak to you face to face, imparting some
good thing to you. Now watch it, that our joy may
be full, that you may be full of joy hearing the gospel and
I may be full of joy preaching the gospel you hear. Children of the elect sister
greet thee. He says These folks in this elect
body over here, they're just as concerned about you as I am,
and they send you their warmest greetings, because we are one
in Christ. Let us learn from this faithful
old man how to address God's people. Especially let me, this
preacher, learn how to address God's people with no compromise,
with firmness, with confidence, ever encouraging, strengthening,
comforting, and assuring those who believe Christ of their election
by the grace of God. speak to their edification and
comfort. Let us learn how to speak about
God's people. Speak of them for their mutual
edification and comfort, encouraging one another to encourage one
another. Let us deal with God's dear children
as God's Dear children, speaking comfortably to their hearts,
declaring that their iniquity is pardoned, that they have received
the Lord's hand double for all their sins. He's forgiven you,
dear elect lady, of all your sins. and made you perfectly
righteous in his darling son because he loved you with an
everlasting love.