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The testing of faith, James 1:1-4

Today we begin our study of the book of James.  We’ve studied James before as a church, but we’ve reached the point where we have gone through the entire New Testament, and so we are now on our second round. But I think that’s a good place to be.  As we learned in Jude last week, we need to be reminded.  We need to remember.  And so I look forward to gleaning more from this harvest than we did on the first.

However, perhaps due to the fact that we have studied James before, I don’t want to spend a lot of time introducing the epistle, nor on it’s human author, who is James.  James doesn’t spend a lot of time introducing himself, for that matter.  He doesn’t mention much about himself.  But we know from our previous study of Jude that James and Jude were brothers.  We should also know by now that James and Jude were half brothers of Jesus. They had the same birth mother, but Jesus was born of the Holy Spirit, whereas James and Jude were born of Joseph.

It would have made sense from a human standpoint for James to have mentioned that he was related to Jesus.  That would be a pretty strong argument for his letter being taken seriously by the first century church.  But, just as in the case of Jude, James doesn’t emphasize his physical relationship with Jesus, but instead emphasizes his spiritual relationship. And that is very striking, and it speaks volumes in doctrinal terms about his view of Christology.

James says that he is a bond servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.  That’s a tremendous statement, given the fact that they grew up together in the same household. He knew Jesus as his older brother since his birth.  He saw Him in every kind of circumstance.  However, it’s noteworthy that John chapter 7 tells us that Jesus’s brothers did not believe in Him, initially. It was only after the resurrection that they came to believe in Jesus as Christ the Lord.

But notice James puts Jesus Christ and God on the same plane, and he a servant to both. He says in vs 1, “James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.” That’s a tremendous statement of the deity of Jesus Christ, from someone who had every reason not to believe.

The author then is James, the brother of Jude and the half brother of Jesus Christ.  He is not an apostle in the strict sense of the word, as he was not one of the 12. Scholars tell us that James wrote this book about 44 AD.  That would make it the first book written in the New Testament.  James was martyred about AD 62.  The Jewish historian Josephus tells us that he was thrown off the rooftop of the temple, and then stoned and beaten until dead.  Other historic traditions say that James was called Old Camel Knees, because he spent so much time on his knees praying that he developed very obvious callouses on his knees.

James addresses this letter not to one specific church, but to the 12 tribes dispersed abroad.  That would have encompassed the entire church, and it could be argued that it included Gentile believers as well. But in any case, the Jews had been dispersed from Jerusalem into many different regions and cities across the Roman Empire, and they had been dispersed because of persecution against the church.  It’s believed that after the stoning of Stephen that persecution became more prominent and the church in Jerusalem were scattered.

So as James writes to these scattered, persecuted Christians living in predominately Gentile, pagan cities, in a culture hostile to Christianity, his first concern is about dealing with the persecution, bearing with the trials and tribulations that they were experiencing.  That was perhaps the most pressing issue for the church scattered abroad.  Their faith was under attack, as they are being persecuted for their faith.  Their faith is being tried, as they are forced to reconcile what they believed to be true, with the reality of what they are experiencing in living the Christian life. 

But James’s concern is that they become spiritually mature.  His concern is that they live sanctified lives as they grow in the faith. His concern is that their belief brings about behavior that is fitting of a child of God.  And so rather than the Christian life being a sort of all expenses paid pleasure cruise where everything just works out great, he wants to show that God uses the crucible of trials to conform us to the image of Jesus Christ.

To deal with this seeming contradiction in the life of faith, James says in vs 2, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials.”  That statement is itself is an oxymoron, if you think about it.  We just finished studying Job in our Wednesday night services.  And we know that Job encountered tremendous trials as a devout believer in God.  He was the most righteous man that was living in his day.  And yet he was beset with one calamity after another.  

It would have seemed totally heartless and calloused if his friends would have said to him, “hey Job, you should consider these trials as all joy.”  We sometimes hear well meaning Christians give that kind of response when they hear of some tragic thing going on in your life.  As if since we are Christians, we should not feel pain or grief and instead be happy over our circumstances, however terrible they may appear.

I don’t think that is what James is advocating here though.  For one, I don’t think happiness and joy are the same thing.  I think happiness is usually a fleeting emotion, whereas joy is a sense of settled contentment.  But maybe we should not be looking at joy as an immediate response to trial.  I think a good way to understand this principle is to consider what Hebrews says about the suffering of Jesus on the cross.  We all realize that the cross is a terrible method of killing someone.  It’s cruel and unusual punishment that is almost unfathomable.  And we know that as Jesus suffered and died on the cross He was not singing “O Happy Day.” I don’t mean to be sacrilegious about His death.  But we know that it was no laughing matter.  At one point, the suffering was so intense, that he cried out, “My God! Why have You forsaken Me?”  There should be no doubt that Jesus suffered during His trial on the cross. Jesus did not exhibit a happy, carefree attitude about the ordeal He was to undergo.  In fact, in anticipation of it, He sweated drops of blood. 

And yet consider what Hebrews says in chapter 12 vs 2 “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”  Here is the supreme example of how we are to endure trials.  It says, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross.  The joy was not immediate.  As He was suffering in the present, the joy was in the future.  He was willing to suffer in the immediate, looking forward to joy in the eternal.

I think the KJV rendering of the word translated “consider” might be helpful.  In the KJV it is “count”.  Count it all joy.  As in you are counting as actual something that has not yet been realized. But you count it now.  The Spirit is not telling us that we are to go through tragedy or hardship or trails with a smile glued on our face and yelling out “praise the Lord!” as if the situation does not hurt us or make us sad.  But to endure the pain, looking forward to the joy set before us as we come through the situation. Whether we come through the trial and realize joy in this life, or we transpire in the trial are translated to the next life,  death does not prevent that future joy, but only hastens it.

I think this verse in Hebrews helps so much in our understanding of this text in James. Notice the parallel in words, In Hebrews -perfecter, faith, joy, endured.  In James – joy, vs 2, faith, vs 3, endurance, vs 3, perfect, vs 4. That’s a good example of interpreting scripture with scripture.  We can better understand the principle of enduring trials that James is talking about, by examining the illustration of Christ’s suffering as described in Hebrews.

So count it as all joy when you encounter various trials.  That phrase various trials opens up the possibilities to include just about anything.  All kinds of trials.  Every kind of trial. Think of what Job endured, death of loved ones, loss of wealth, loss of health, loss of friendships, criticism. So all kinds of trials are included in this statement.

But wait a minute – I left out an important word in that first part of the sentence.  James says “my brethren.”  That’s a reference to fellow Christians.  We are brothers and sisters in the Lord.  James is addressing fellow Christians.  That’s another false premise of a lot of health, wealth, and prosperity doctrine folks out there who want to claim that as a Christian you should never have any problems.  God will eliminate all your problems.  That was more or less the claim of Job’s friends, wasn’t it? They said Job had problems because he was not much of a man of God.  If he had enough faith, or the right kind of faith, then he wouldn’t have problems like he was having.  Yet that is not what we learned in Job, is it?  Job was righteous, and yet he suffered. He was a faithful servant of God, and yet he suffered tremendous trials.  He had problems counting his trials as all joy.  But in the end he experienced joy because he endured the trials without turning his back on God.

This principle that James proposes also has the support of the apostle Paul and Peter.  Paul says in Romans 5:3, “And not only this, but we also rejoice in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance. and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope;  and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”  

And Peter says in 1 Peter 1:6, “In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials,  so that the proof of your faith, [being] more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” 

Both of those apostles tell us that trials produces perseverance, and perseverance proven character, or what Peter calls the proof of your faith. It’s the same idea that James conveys in vs 3, “knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.”  It’s important to know the truth.  Job wanted to know the truth about God in the midst of his trials.  And it’s important for us to have the right knowledge as we go through trials.  As I have said before many times, our faith is founded on the truth of God’s word, on His promises.  

And so we need to know the purpose of God in the trials of our life.  They are not by chance.  There are no accidents with God. Ultimately everything that happens to us comes by the purpose of God.  So James says that we need to know that God sends these trials to us to test our faith, which produces endurance, or another word, maybe better, is perseverance.  

But what does he mean to test our faith? Is God trying to get us to fail?  I used to think that about some of the teachers I had in high school.  They would give us a test over stuff I didn’t think we had ever covered.  And so I thought they were trying to make us fail the test.  But that’s not what James has in mind here when he says “test.”  What that means is “prove”.

Let’s look again at 1 Peter 1:6 which we saw a few minutes ago, and hopefully get some more insight into what James is talking about.  Peter says, “In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials,  so that the proof of your faith, [being] more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”  

In precious metal refining, you take a lot of gold which may be 14k or 18k, which means that it is 517 parts gold per 1000, or 750 parts gold per 1000.  The other parts are non precious metals like brass or copper or something else. So when you send it to the refinery, the gold is melted down in a fire which burns away the dross, and separates that which is base metals from the precious metal.  So what comes out of the refiner’s fire is pure gold without any impurities.  That’s what Peter meant by the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold, which is perishable, even though tested by fire.

The hymn we sing, How Firm a Foundation, has the line in it which speaks of this.  “When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie, My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply. The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.”

And that is what James is speaking of when he says the testing of our faith.  We go through a fiery trial which God uses to prove our faith, or better, to improve our faith.  It takes out the impurities.  The test reveals the evidence of our faith, and purifies our faith.  

And James says that evidence is endurance, or perseverance.  The Greek word for endurance or perseverance is hypomone. It means to bear up under.  Christians very often have the mindset that when trials come, that they want to get out of it as soon as possible.  All their prayer requests are for the Lord to get rid of this trial immediately.  But the fact is that the Lord’s purposes are not always to take us quickly out of the trial but to use it to produce something in us.  So we are to endure the trial.  

That quality of perseverance was illustrated by Job.  However, James isn’t suggesting an attitude of resignation. He’s not advocating an attitude of whatever will be will be. Of fatalism. But he is suggesting perseverance. Resignation is passive, perseverance is active.  Resignation results in defeat, perseverance results in triumph.  Perseverance says as Job said, “though He slay me, yet I will trust in Him.”  It’s not turning away from God in trial, but turning to God, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.

Endurance is a character trait that God wants to build in us.  And He uses trials to do it.  James says in chapter 5:11, “ We count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and [is] merciful.”

And James says we endure not just for endurance’s sake, but because it brings spiritual maturity.  Look at vs 4, “And let endurance have [its] perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” We need to clarify our terms to truly understand what James is talking about here.  The word perfect can almost always be better interpreted as complete.  He’s not talking about somehow reaching spiritual perfection, but spiritual completion.  What does that mean?  Simply speaking, spiritual maturity. 

James says let endurance or perseverance have it’s complete result. “Don’t take the cake out of the oven before the toothpick comes out clean.”  That’s what Susie always tells me when she has to leave the house and I’m home studying, and she has a cake in the oven.  My job when the timer goes off is to stick a toothpick in it and see if it comes out clean.  Simple job.  But if I take the cake out just because the timer goes off and it hasn’t been in long enough then the cake is ruined. 

That’s a bad analogy of what James says is needed in perseverance.  You need to stay in the fire until God’s work is complete in you.  Spiritual maturity takes time, and it takes enduring in tribulation until God has completed His purpose in you.  Three times Paul pleaded with God to take away a thorn in his flesh, which he said was a messenger of Satan to torment him. Whatever the trial was, it wasn’t fun.  But God said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect, ( or complete) in weakness. (2Cor. 12:8)  There it is again, the idea that enduring trials completes your faith.

James says, let patience have it’s complete result or work. Don’t immediately run around in circles crying to God to get this monkey off your back.  Realize that God is working in the trial to complete your faith.

The word translated “perfect,” in the Greek is “teleion.” It’s a word that was used in secular sources of animals that are full grown.  Here it is used to refer to Christians that are full grown.  Endurance makes a full-grown Christian.  So the Lord is giving you endurance, to put you through a greater test, to make you a stronger Christian, a more mature Christian. 

James says in chapter 3 vs 2, “For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well.”  He uses the concept of perfect there to indicate the concept of wholeness.  That is, not lagging behind in any point of their spiritual growth.

That phrase “not lacking in anything is synonymous with the term complete, which expresses the idea that all parts are functioning as they should.  If we endure the trials and the training which God uses to make us complete, then we lack nothing in our faith, so that we might be able to persevere in faith until the end.

Jesus promised that in this world we would have tribulations.  That is going to be part of the Christian experience here on earth.  But if we endure, if we persevere in our faith as we go through the tribulations without doubting God, then we will have a refined faith that will come forth like gold, and that results in bringing glory to Christ, and our glorification.

Paul speaks of that process in Romans 8:16-18 “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,  and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with [Him] so that we may also be glorified with [Him.]  For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

Let’s conclude this study about God’s purpose in trials this morning with the statement  given by Peter in 1 Peter 1:6 which we referenced earlier.  I think it is a good summary of this doctrine.  “In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials,  so that the proof of your faith, [being] more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;  and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,  obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.”

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy,  to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, [be] glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

Kept by God, Jude 17-25

Today we are going to finish our study of Jude.  This short letter was written by Jude who was the brother of James.  What he does not mention is that he is also the half brother of Jesus Christ.  They had the same mother -Mary, but different fathers, Joseph being the father of James and Jude, and the Holy Spirit being the father of Jesus.

Jude wrote this letter to the churches, having first desired to elaborate on their common salvation, but he was urged by the Holy Spirit to write something else instead – a warning that certain ungodly persons had crept into the church unawares, and their false doctrine was a stumbling block to these true believers to whom he was writing.   He says in vs 1 that he writes then to “those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ.” 

In other words, the true believer is called by God with an effectual call to salvation, he is loved by God to the extent that God provided the way of salvation, and he is kept for Jesus Christ in the sense that they have been brought into the kingdom of Jesus Christ.  That idea of being kept by God is an important concept in this letter. He restates it again at the conclusion of this letter in vs 24, “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy.”  What that speaks of is salvation is from God. Both the beginning, the present and the future aspects of our salvation is from God.  

As Paul says in Rom. 8:30 “and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.”  In salvation, there are three stages, justification, sanctification, and glorification.  All three stages are necessary.

And that second stage, sanctification, in particular is the concern of Jude’s letter.  Because as he says in vs 4, “For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”

Because of their false testimony, these certain persons were in danger of depriving the church of their prize by abusing the grace of God in saying that you could live ungodly lives and still be acceptable to God.  That you could disregard the aspect of our salvation which is sanctification, which is being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, to be holy, even as He is holy, to live righteous, godly lives.

Make no mistake, to live godly lives in the midst of an ungodly world is our mandate as Christians.  To confess Jesus as Lord, to live for Him, to do His will. Grace isn’t a license to sin, but a mandate to live holy lives.  As Paul says in Titus 2:11-14 “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men,  instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age,  looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.”

Do you see in that passage how the three aspects of salvation are expressed? Salvation is by grace, our justification is by grace, but that very grace instructs us to live godly lives, which is sanctification.  And then looking for the blessed hope of the appearing of Jesus Christ is our glorification, when we are raised up to meet the Lord to live with Him forever in a new glorified body.

But Jude’s warning in this letter is that these certain ungodly persons were putting a stumbling block before the church, encouraging them to live ungodly lives, to deny the lordship of Jesus Christ, that we don’t have to live godly lives to be a Christian.  And what that meant was that the sanctification of the saint was in jeopardy, and even the salvation of those who were seeking to enter the kingdom of God was being prevented.  

As Jesus Himself said of the false teachers of His day, in Matt. 23:13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.” They were a stumbling block which caused those who were entering to fall, and those who were seeking to enter to not find it.

So Jude gave several examples from biblical history of false teachers and pretenders whom God judged and brought condemnation upon because they were living ungodly lives and putting a stumbling block before others. We are not going to review all of them, but I encourage you to review that section for yourself.  Because as Jude tells us here, it’s important to remember.  Those who do not learn from the past are destined to repeat it. If we are wise we will learn from these historical examples that Jude gives us in the middle section of this letter. Rom. 15:4 “For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”

Now as we enter into this last section of the letter, Jude reminds us again to remember. He says in vs17 “But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, that they were saying to you, “In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts.” 

The apostles had echoed the warnings of Jesus Himself, warning that in the last days that  false teachers would arise from within the ranks of the church to lead people astray. Paul, for example, said in 2Tim. 4:3-4 “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but [wanting] to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires,  and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.”

Peter warned about the same in 2Peter 2:1-2 “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.  Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned.” 

So Jude reminds us that the apostles had warned about these false teachers who mocked the imperatives of the gospel, and now he gives one last summary description of these certain persons so that the church might recognize them.  He says in vs 19 “These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit.”  What does he mean by they cause divisions?  I think he might be referring to the same sort of people that Paul spoke of in “1Cor. 1:12 “Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, “I am of Paul,” and “I of Apollos,” and “I of Cephas,” and “I of Christ.” In other words, they cherry pick from the teachers of the gospel to serve their own desires.  Even worse, they accumulate certain teachers that tickle their ears as Paul had said in 2 Timothy 4 which we read awhile a go.

Paul had told Timothy in 2Tim. 2:15  to “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” But these men do not rightly divide the word of truth, but they give preference to one scripture above the others for the sake of giving license to their ungodly desires.

Secondly, he says they are worldly minded.  The Greek word there means natural.  They are not interested in spiritual things, but are all consumed with the natural man. Instead of being focused on the spiritual things of God, they are fixated on the flesh, on the natural world, the things which appeal to the flesh. How to live your best life now.  How to get God to do whatever you want Him to do.  How to have health, wealth and prosperity in this life. Name it and claim it. These are people whose minds are set on things of this world, worldly minded.

And lastly, he says they are devoid of the Spirit.  That simply means that they are not even saved. Rom 8:9 says “However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.”  Jude is not criticizing the fact that they work in the flesh and not by the Spirit.  Thats a possibility as a Christian, as Paul warned the Galatians.  But that’s not the case with these certain persons.  He says they are devoid of the Spirit. They are not really Christians.  They are pretenders who claim to be spirit filled, but in fact are operating under the influence of evil spirits who have maligned the truth, and seek to destroy the faith.

So we know who these certain people are who have crept into the church unnoticed.  We know how to recognize them.  But we were told by Jude that we are to contend for the faith.  How do we do that? How do we resist the damning influence that these certain people have on the church?  How do we avoid the stumbling blocks that they put in the way?

Jude answers those questions by giving us four injunctions starting in vs 20; “But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,  keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.”  

The first thing we do when we contend for the faith in response to the false teaching of these certain persons, is we edify our own faith.  To edify is to build up, to instruct, to teach, to improve.  We edify our own faith.  Notice Jude describes it as your most holy faith.  This is building up a holy faith.  Holiness is the process of sanctification.  It is being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.  It is living according to the Spirit and not according to the desires of the flesh. 

You do that by keeping the commands of God, by keeping the ordinances of God. As Peter quoted God as saying, “you shall be holy for I am holy.” To be holy is to be the opposite of natural, as fleshly.  It’s patterning your life after Christ.  Peter spoke of that as walking in the footsteps of Christ. 1Peter 2:21-22 “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps,  WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH.” 

Jude says build up your faith first.  A good analogy of that principle is when you are traveling in an airplane, they give you these directions about how to put on an oxygen mask in the event that the plane loses oxygen.  And they always say, put your own mask on first before helping others to put on theirs.  The point being that if you are unconscious, you won’t be able to help others.  So in regards to contending for the faith, make sure to build up your own faith first, founded on sound doctrine and practice, and then you will be able to instruct others.

To build up your faith then is to exercise your faith.  Live by faith and not by sight. Walk by the Spirit and not by the flesh.  Secondly Jude says we are to pray in the Holy Spirit.  I”m sorry to have to offend any charismatics out there, but this is not talking about speaking in tongues in some sort of prayer language.  It simply means praying according to the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Praying in the Holy Spirit means  praying in the power of the Holy Spirit, in alignment with the Holy Spirit, in accordance with the will of God.  We need to pray scripture, we need to pray God’s promises which He has given us in scripture.  We need to pray according to the will of God, not our will, and that is how we pray in the Holy Spirit. 

Romans 8:26-27 says, “In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for [us] with groanings too deep for words;  and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to [the will of] God.”  Notice something very important – the Spirit intercedes for us according to the will of God.  That’s the secret to successful prayer, praying in the will of God.  Not praying some magic incantation which gets God to do our will, but when we pray in the will of God and we can know that we have the things which we ask of.

One of the famous texts that we often turn to in regards to prayer is found in James 5:16.  It says, “The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit.”

Let me try to explain some things about this passage that are often not fully appreciated.  First of all, Elijah did not decide on his own after it did not rain for three years, and then he prayed that it would rain and God answered his prayer.  No, actually, in 1 Kings 18 we have record of God telling Elijah that He was going to send rain on the earth again.  Elijah then in the strength of that promise went back to Ahab and then prayed three times that it would rain.  And since it was God’s will that it would rain, and since God said it was going to rain, it did rain.  But Elijah prayed three times before God sent the rain He had already promised He would send.  That’s called praying in the will of God.

Another important aspect of prayer that is taught in that passage speaks to the earlier principle Jude gave about building up your own holy faith first.  And that is that James says, the effective prayer of a righteous man accomplishes much.  When you pray in the will of God, and when you are right with God, built up in your holy faith, when you are living righteously, then that makes your prayer effective with God.

And the object of our prayer is to contend for the faith.  We pray for one another.  We pray for the pastor.  We pray for the church. We pray for our unsaved loved ones. If we are called to fight for the faith, we can be certain that a great part of the battle will be won on our knees. 

Another injunction Jude gives us is to keep ourselves in the love of God.  That means we love the things that God loves, and we hate the things that God hates.  We need to have a holy hatred for sin.  I’m sorry to have to say this, but as Christians I’m afraid we love sin, and hate to have to go without it. Sin is like a forbidden love affair that we keep giving in to. We may try to avoid it, but we still love it.  We miss it so much, and consequently we struggle with those sins over and over.  The reason is that we have not learned to hate the sin. To have a holy horror of sin because we recognize that it’s an affront to God. We don’t recognize that sin brings death.  If we love God, then we will hate sin because we hate that it is an affront to God.  Sin insults God. Sin offends God.  And so if we love Him, we will hate sin.  I didn’t say hate the sinner, but we hate sin.

The next thing Jude tells us we must do in our fight for the faith, is “waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.” I think that means that we wait anxiously for the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Having a heavenly hope is the key to living a godly life here on earth.  The opposite of a heavenly hope is to mount up treasure on earth. It’s to live for what this world has to offer.  It’s living for the moment, rather than for eternity.  It’s living for the flesh, rather than living by the Spirit. We need to live in expectation of Christ’s imminent return.

We need to get our perspective up above the horizon of this world.  Like the faithful of old who are spoken of in Hebrews 11, they were looking for a city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”

So those are things that Jude says we need to be concerned about in regards to our own selves.  But we don’t stop there.  We need to love our neighbor as ourselves.  So how do we do that? Especially those that may have stumbled over the stumbling blocks that these certain persons have put in their path?

Jude tells us how we are to help them in vs22 “And have mercy on some, who are doubting;  save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.”

Have mercy on some who are doubting, that speaks of those who have listened to the false teaching and now doubt the truth of the gospel.  So speaking the truth in love might be to rebuke them in their sin. To correct their false doctrine.  Jude says save others, snatching them out of the fire.  These would be to present the gospel to those who are not yet saved.  In effect, snatch them from hell.  Do every thing you can to bring them to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.  You know, I”m sure there are many, many people here today that would rush into a burning house to save your loved one.  We may not be trained firefighters, but if we saw our loved ones in a situation that could mean death, most of us would run and jump into the burning house, if we thought there was any possible chance we could save them.

And yet, many of us are guilty of watching our loved ones drift steadily towards certain death, knowing full well that the Bible says that those who die without Christ will be cast into the Lake of Fire to suffer torment eternally.  That’s a reality though that we have somehow convinced ourselves to not think too seriously about.  But if we really believe what the Bible says, then we would have mercy and snatch them out of the fire.  

I think that’s what he means when he says, “On some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.”  If we hate sin, if we have a horror for sin, then we will show mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.  Sometimes the sin is something that we fear to come close to, because we recognize how dangerous it is.  And so we hate every vestige of it. We fear for their soul.

But the good news is that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  God is able to cleanse us from the stain of sin, so that we may live in righteousness.  Salvation offers us forgiveness from the penalty of sin, deliverance from the power of sin, and one day eradication of the presence of sin.  Right now, we should be living in the power over sin.  Sin no longer has dominion over us.

Our job, if we really love our neighbor as ourselves, is to go to those who need to hear the gospel and compel them to come into the kingdom of God. But thankfully, it’s not all up to us. Jude closes this message with what may be the best benediction in the entire Bible.  In this benediction he states what God will do.  And that is where we find the power to win the battle for the faith.  That’s where we find the victory. 

Notice he says, “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy…”  What a great blessing that is, to realize that though Jude told us we are to keep building up our faith, we are to keep ourselves in the love of God, yet we find it’s the Lord who is keeping us, who is keeping us from stumbling, who is able to make you stand in His presence blameless, with great joy.  That’s tremendous, it really is.  It’s not dependent on the man who who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.

It’s like I always told my kids to hold daddy’s hand when crossing the road.  I wanted them to hold my hand tight.  I wanted them to walk right beside me.  But I was not depending on their strength to hold on to me.  I knew that I would never let them go.  I was going to hold onto them.  And our God keeps us.  He is the Great Shepherd and we are the sheep of His pasture, if we truly know the Lord as our Savior.

Jude concludes his benediction by saying, “to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, [be] glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.”   We do not give glory, majesty, dominion and authority to God.  He already possesses those things.  We just acknowledge that they belong to Him. We bow to HIs authority, we bow to His dominion, to His majesty, to His glory.  And we bow not just in eternity, but we bow now.  Before all time, now and forever.  Let us be sure that we recognize and bow before the sovereignty of God now, in this life.  Jesus is Lord, now… and forever. Amen.

God’s judgment on false teachers, Jude 11-16

We begin this section of scripture with Jude uttering the phrase, “Woe to them!”  It is a phrase that cannot be understood without the context of what came before it.  And so if we have not been here in the last couple of weeks, we must find out who is “them”.  Who is Jude talking about. 

We find the summary answer to that question back in vs 4, “For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”  

These certain, ungodly persons are the ones to whom Jude now exclaims, “Woe to them!” I believe Jude uses that phrase to remind us of when Jesus gave a scathing indictment on the teaching of the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 23.  Jesus there proclaims 8 woes upon the scribes and Pharisees, because He said they shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for they do not enter in themselves, nor do they allow those who are entering to go in.  He gave eight such woes about these false teachers, blind guides He calls them, who devour widow’s houses, who pretentiously make long prayers, who go to great lengths to make disciples for themselves, who clean the outside of the cup so people think they are so righteous, yet inwardly they are full of corruption and uncleanness.

It’s the same sort of people that Jude calls certain persons. But Jude then shows that God will punish these certain persons, just as certainly as He punished rebellious Israel, as He cast into hell the rebellious angels, and as He destroyed by fire and brimstone the immoral Sodom and Gomorrah, as he reminded us of last week in our study.

But Jude is not done condemning them. You know the scriptures give their most severe criticism of false prophets.  They are guilty of a greater sin than that of murderers and adulterers and sorcerers. To change the truth of God for a lie and in so doing put a stumbling block before others is the greatest crime, worthy of the most severe punishment. And so he proclaims “Woe to them!” “For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.”

Jude gives us three illustrations of people like these certain person, that abandoned the word of God, rebelled against the word of God, and in due time received the judgement from God. And in this reminder of these people’s sin of rebellion, we get insight into the nature of these apostates in the church.  Jude said in vs 4, that these certain persons had crept into the church, and their teachings had perverted the grace of God into licentiousness, and they denied the lordship of Jesus Christ, so that they were condemned to judgement.

Let’s look at the first illustration, that of Cain.  We find the story of Cain in Genesis chapter 4.  I won’t take the time to read it all, but I will try to summarize it.  Gen 4:3-5 “So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the LORD of the fruit of the ground. Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and for his offering;  but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell.”  

Well, I’m sure you remember the rest of the story.  Cain was angry at God for rejecting his offering, and he took out his anger on his brother and murdered him while they were working in the field. But what shouldn’t be overlooked in the story is this: Cain brought an unacceptable sacrifice. God did not accept his sacrifice, and God did accept the sacrifice of Abel. Now this presupposes that they knew what offering they were to bring. God required a blood sacrifice. But Cain didn’t think that was necessary.  He was a farmer, not a herdsman.  It would have been an extra expense to buy a lamb for the offering.  And so he rejected the word of God and offered what he thought should be acceptable. He would worship God according to his design.

And that provokes me to say something more about this idea of false worship.  The idea of worship as we understand it today in the modern church, is a relatively new phenomenon.  I grew up in the church, and had exposure to dozens and dozens of churches in my early life, and I can tell you that prior to the 90’s this idea of “worship” as it is expressed to today was not heard of.  We went to church, we sang songs, we had special music, we had preaching, all the components of what might be called worship, but we didn’t necessarily call it worship with the same understanding as it has today.  

Today, if you hear the word worship, you automatically think it is speaking of a prolonged time of music, usually conducted by a “worship team” or a praise and worship band.  The idea of worship today is virtually only concerned with music, and it’s usually contemporary music.  If you sing a classic hymn as a congregation such as we do on Sundays, that really isn’t what people think of as proper worship.  Worship has to be a time when you give yourself over to a emotional, repetitive, sentimental and moving musical score performed by more or less trained or professional musicians and singers in a concert style setting.  We somehow have come to believe that such is pleasing to God, that is worshipping God, and as such it satisfies our responsibility to God.

That, however, is not what the Bible calls worship. Jesus said in Matt 15:8 “THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME.” A good principle of hermeneutics (Biblical interpretation) which I think is under utilized, is when you are considering a word or principle in the Bible, to find the first time it is mentioned, and in so doing you will gain a better understanding of the meaning of the word, or of the principle.  It’s called the principle of first mention.  

Now if you go to the first place that the word “worship”  is mentioned, you will find it in Genesis 22:5.  Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.”  What Abraham was talking about when he said worship is really insightful as we consider what is commonly considered worship today.  He was talking about going up on the mountain to offer up his son as an offering to God.  He was going to sacrifice his son to God. And he called that worship.

I would love to spend the rest of our time talking about this.  But I don’t have the time this morning.  However, please be sure that you understand that worship, in the Biblical context, involves a sacrifice. Worship is an offering, a sacrifice to God.  Additionally, worship is obedience to God.  Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice in obedience to what God required of him.

And that reveals that though the word worship is not used in the account of Cain and Abel, yet that is what they were doing.  They were coming to worship God.  Genesis 4 tells us that they came to make an offering to God. And very importantly, notice that God did not accept Cain’s offering, but He accepted Abel’s.  That tells us something important; that God is not obligated to accept just any kind of worship we offer Him.

But as Jesus said, “God is Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”  Obedience to the truth then is essential to worshipping God.  Romans 12 tells us that in chapter 12:1-2 “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, [which is] your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” So part of worship is obedience to the will of God, the commandments of God, that our bodies may be in subjection to Him.  To be a living sacrifice is to die to the desires of the flesh, that we might live in the Spirit.

Cain showed that he did not believe God’s word. He offered his own offering to God as he thought was fitting.  And he became angry at God and killed his brother. His rebellion against God’s word killed his brother. He killed Able because he didn’t believe God’s word was true.  He didn’t fear judgment. But God did judge Cain.  He made him to be a fugitive and wanderer on earth.

These certain persons Jude is speaking of were like Cain in the sense that they did what they wanted with God’s word.  They turned it around and used it for their purposes, and for their advantage.  They thought it was acceptable to alter God’s word for their own benefit and in so doing, condemned not only themselves, but those who listened to them.

The next illustration Jude calls from Biblical history is that of Balaam.  This illustration answers the question as to why the false teachers do what they do. The story of Balaam illustrates is that they do it for money. He was a prophet for hire. And some of these false prophets we see on the Christian television networks are in effect prophets for hire, and they are getting very wealthy taking money from people who are duped by their charisma and their false promises.

The story of Balaam is found in Numbers chapters 22-25, and then again in ch.31. The story of Balaam is a story of how he turned against Israel, and tried to curse them for the sake of the reward from the king of Moab, a man named Balak. You might remember this story because there is the famous passage there which describes Balaam’s donkey speaking to Balaam because Balaam kept trying to force the donkey to go forward, when the angel of the Lord was blocking his way.  God put several blocks to stop Balaam from cursing Israel.  But in the end, Balaam found a way to work around God’s blockade.  

We find a summary of what he did in Revelation 2:14, in which the Lord says to the church at Pergamos,  “I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and commit acts of immorality.”  Balaam knew in getting the Israelites to commit fornication with the Moabites, and forsake God’s law concerning their diet, God would end up bringing judgment upon them, and accomplish what the king of Moab really wanted, which was the destruction of Israel. But what Balaam forgot to take into consideration, is that the same God who would judge Israel for their sin, would also judge him for his act of rebellion against the word of God. Numbers 31 tells us that Balaam was killed by the Lord’s army while he was living in the midst of a godless and sinful city in Moab.

Balaam then represents two things: the covetousness of the false teacher who loves money and the apostate who influences others to sin. The third illustration of apostate false teachers in the church is from the story of the rebellion of Korah. Korah was a Levite who led the rebellion against Moses.  He was a teacher.  But his error was his disdain for the authority which God had prescribed.  He wanted to be a priest, and to have authority over the people of God, but he could not.  

In Numbers chapter 16 we find the story of his rebellion. He gathered together other certain men, and went before Moses and assembled together before him. And he said, “You have gone far enough, for all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is in their midst; so why do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?”

Korah took the word of God about the priesthood of all believers, and reinterpreted them in such a way as to remove any authority of the leadership that God had set over Israel. He was disputing the idea that they even needed a leader, that they even needed someone who was responsible, someone who spoke for God. He was disputing the idea that they even needed a teacher who gave them God’s truth. 

What he was advocating was that everyone was capable of determining God’s truth for themselves. That God could speak to them directly, and they didn’t need someone who would be in authority as their teacher/leader.  That is still a popular belief today.  Some people think they don’t need to go to church, they don’t need to listen to a preacher, they can worship God by ourselves, and they can hear from God ourselves, and they can interpret His word to suit us. Well, do you remember how the judgement of God fell upon Korah?  Numbers tells us that the ground opened up and swallowed him and his company whole into hell.

At this point in the text, Jude shifts gears.  He has shown from God’s word three separate incidents which illustrate how God’s judgment will fall upon any false teacher that rebells against God’s word, that loves money, or that is immoral, of desires authority that God hasn’t given him. A horrifying judgment awaits anyone who undermines the authority and truth of God’s word for personal gain and puts a stumbling block before others.

And so Jude shifts at this point in his sermon from historical illustrations of that fact, to five analogies from nature which describe these apostate teachers.  He describes them in lyrical form in vs 12 and 13.  “These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted;  wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever.”

Let’s look at them briefly.  The first analogy is they are like hidden reefs in your love feasts.  Love feasts were not the Lord’s supper, but they were a meal that the church body would take together during their services at certain times.  Sort of like a potluck dinner, maybe.  There is something about eating a meal together that brings about a deeper fellowship with one another. And the early church used to practice it often.

Hidden reefs is a reference to a very dangerous situation when sailing.  It refers to unseen rock formations just under the surface which can rip open the hull of the boat and sink it. These certain men were like hidden reefs, unseen on the surface of the church gathering, but very dangerous because their false theology can sink a church.  It can cause people to shipwreck in their faith.

Notice Jude says they feast with you without fear, they have no fear of God, they are brazen in their sin, even flaunting it before the church, all while claiming to be covered by grace.  And it says also, “- caring for themselves.” That’s the exact opposite of loving one another.  It’s self love, a selfish love.  Immorality is selfish love.  It’s taking for yourself without really caring about the other person.

Secondly, he calls them clouds without water. Verse 12, they are “Clouds without water, carried along by winds.” Clouds bring the promise of rain to a thirsty land, and Israel has an arid climate.  So a cloud that doesn’t rain is a picture of empty promises.  Our faith is founded on the promises of God. But if you are given a false promise, that means that it may sound good to you, it may sound enticing, but it’s not a promise that God will honor because it doesn’t come from him – it comes from these imposters. To give false promises is dishonoring to God, and causes men who believe them to lose faith in God.

And thirdly he says these apostates are “like autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, and uprooted.” Autumn is season when you harvest the fruit.  But Jude says these trees have no fruit. I find it interesting that so many false teachers want to emphasize the gifts of the Spirit, but they show little of the fruits of the Spirit.  Jude says they are doubly dead, uprooted.  Dead in the sense that they are without fruit and dead in that they are not rooted in the truth.  Our faith is rooted in the word of God.  When you take that away, you are spiritually dead.

And then, fourthly, he calls them “wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam.”  I can’t help but think of Eph 4:14 “As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming.”  

I think the winds of false doctrine cause these people to be driven this way and that way, to be thrown about by the devil’s deceit which instead of growing spiritually, causes them to indulge in shameful acts.  They are being driven by evil spirits to live unruly, ungodly lives.  As a surfer, I have learned that the wind is what causes waves.  But it takes consistent winds blowing over a long fetch to produce clean waves that we can actually surf.  Those waves travel hundreds of miles to reach the shore in long, clean, orderly lines.  But a northeast wind produces a short, choppy wave that doesn’t break consistently, it produces a washing machine affect that is impossible to surf, and it churns up  a lot of sea foam that washes up on the beach, which is usually pretty nasty stuff. I can imagine that this northeaster effect is what Jude is referring to, waves that have no pattern, that aren’t consistent, that aren’t orderly, and are unproductive.  That’s an analogy of false teaching that is all over the place theologically, does not have any depth to it, and doesn’t produce sound doctrine, but instead lustful, shameful living.

And then a final picture of apostate teachers is in verse 13. They are like “wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever.”  Most commentators think that this reference to wandering stars is speaking of falling stars, or shooting stars.  They are not part of any constellation, and actually, are not stars at all, but asteroids that blaze across the sky and then fizzle out. And that may be what Jude is talking about. 

But I happen to think that this may be a reference to fallen angels.  Angels are often related to stars in the Bible. In Job we read that God asked Satan where he had come from.  And Satan answered, “From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it.”  To me, that sounds a lot like wandering around.  The fallen angels lost their place in heaven, they lost the position that they were designed for, and they lost their relationship with God.  And as a result of their disobedience, they are destined for the Lake of Fire.  It’s interesting that hell is described in the Bible as a place of fire, and yet a place of thick darkness at the same time.

So I think that as John said, we must test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.  These false prophets are going to suffer the same fate as the evil spirits who drive them, who inform them, and who empower them.  Even now they are out of their proper place, they have lost their relationship with God, they have rebelled against the authority of God, and they work against the kingdom of God.

Jude gives one final illustration, and with this we will conclude our sermon today. He says in vs 14,” [It was] also about these men [that] Enoch, [in] the seventh [generation] from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” 

Theologians tell us that the quotation here is not a biblical quotation, but from a text called 1 Enoch.  Jude was possibly referring to a book that was known to the church, but was not a part of the biblical canon, in order to provide an illustration.  The character is Enoch, whom we know from the scripture which reads.  “Enoch walked with God and was not, for God took him.” That’s about all we know of Enoch.  But I’m not so sure that Jude quotes from this other book or not, but I am sure that the Holy Spirit inspired him to write this quote from Enoch.  So I lean towards the Holy Spirit being the source of this quote, and not this historical book of Enoch which contains some truth and some fanciful information, and which was not accepted as a part of our Bible.  

So using this quote of Enoch, Jude wants us to see that God executes judgement against the ungodly.  No less than four times Enoch says “ungodly.”  The people are ungodly, their behavior is ungodly, and their ungodliness is carried out in ungodly ways. Most importantly, the ungodly have spoken against God.  They counter God’s word.  They defy God’s word. And as such the Lord will execute judgement against them.  But in bringing up Enoch, we are also given a positive example of a godly man living in an ungodly world.  It is possible to live a godly life in an ungodly world. And as we see in the case of the life of Enoch,  God will reward that behavior as certainly as He will judge ungodly behavior. 

Jude concludes this section with a short summary which tells us how to recognize the difference between the true teachers like Enoch, and the false teachers who are destined for destruction. He says, “These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their [own] lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of [gaining an] advantage.”  That’s a pretty succinct description of false teachers.  They find fault with God’s word,  they are obsessed with the lusts of the flesh, sexual and otherwise, and the speak arrogantly, claiming to know the truth, claiming to have special insight from God that counters what God has already spoken, and finally they flatter people for the sake of gaining advantage, whether that be by money or popularity, or fame. They are prophets for hire, tickling the ears of their listeners to draw people after them.

Well, this is not a pleasant subject to have to consider this morning.  But it is the urgent message of the Holy Spirit, that we need to contend for the faith which is under attack from these apostate, false prophets who have crept into the church unawares.  By the examples given here, we ought to be able to expose those false prophets, and help ourselves and others to be more discerning, that we might be able to be sure we are of the truth, and that we worship God in truth. We must contend for the truth, so that the gospel is not watered down as to be ineffective, and people are not saved, and end up being deceived.  We can be sure that God will bring those false prophets to judgment in the last day.  But in this present hour, let us be discerning, able to distinguish between truth and error, and contend for the faith once delivered to the saints.

Jude 1:24-25 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy,  to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, [be] glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.  

Reminders from history, Jude 5-10

I said something in our Bonfire Bible Study last Wednesday that I think bears repeating.  I said that there seems to be two basic types of theology out there.  But only one is correct theology, and the other one is wrong, even though it is the most popular.  The most common theology, the most popular theology,  has as it’s premise that God exists to serve man.  They may not say it so crassly, but nevertheless, that is the basics of it.  That God serves man, God loves man, God gives things to man, God helps man.  God is not much more than a miracle working genie who exists to serve man. And so, of course, God cannot judge man, He can’t punish man, because He loves us too much. The other theology, the correct one, has as it’s premise, that man exists to serve God. Man was made for God, to love Him, to serve Him, to do His will, and to live for Him. He is Lord and Master, and we are subject to Him. 

And all of our attempts at understanding of God we try to fit into one of those templates. You might even go so far as to say that all of religion is man’s efforts to control God.  Most of our preaching and teaching falls into that same error.  We try to interpret the Bible to fit our paradigm.  We try to create a message that fits our ideas of what is acceptable, what seems right to us.  If we can develop enough knowledge about God, then we can control God and control the outcome of our dealings with God.

And it is obvious that God allows us to have a go at it.  God doesn’t shut up fools.  God doesn’t always stoop to answer man’s wisdom.  God doesn’t always immediately respond to our foolishness with judgment.  But as Jude shows us in this section of scripture, God promises to judge man’s disobedience, whether it is immediate or in the future. But God will judge rebellion against the truth.

Jude started off his letter by saying that he planned to write concerning their common salvation.  He was planning on writing about the truth they held in common in salvation.  There is truth that leads to salvation, and there is no salvation without holding to those truths. But at the urging of the Holy Spirit, Jude felt the necessity to write about the need to contend for the faith. Because, as we will learn, the faith, the truth that leads to salvation, was under attack.  

Certain persons had crept into the church and sown seeds of bad theology, which served to give license to those who disobeyed the Lord and lived according to their lustful desires.  Particularly the lusts of a sexual nature, and the lusts for money.  Such people, Jude said, were already marked for condemnation because they turned the grace of our God into licentiousness and denied our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

To turn the grace of God into licentiousness means that they disregarded the law of God, especially in the realm of promiscuity or immorality.  They said that they weren’t under law any more but under grace, and therefore what they did in the body does not really matter.  That’s the bad theology; God loves me, God forgives me, and God won’t punish or condemn me. 

The other thing Jude said they did was deny our Master and Lord Jesus Christ. That doesn’t mean that they denied His existence. But they denied His lordship.  They denied His right to reign in our lives.  Again, they had the theology that God exists to serve me, not the other way around.  I don’t have to serve the Lord with my life, my actions, my behavior.  I am captain of my ship.  I can exercise my freedom, my independence, in pursuit of my happiness, and the Lord is going to be ok with that because He just wants me to be happy.

Well, Jude disputes that type of theology.  He says we need to contend for the faith, that is, we need to fight for the true theology.  And furthermore, he says that those who have adopted the bad theology will be judged, and will receive condemnation from God, sooner or later.  Now to support that he is going to give three examples of those that rebelled against God’s truth, and ended up being condemned and punished by God.

In bringing up these history lessons from the past, Jude says that we need to be reminded of them, even though we already know them.  Vs 5, “Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all…”  The point being that as Christians, who know the truth, we nevertheless need to be reminded of the truth again and again, to keep the truth fresh before us. It is far too easy to become complacent about doctrines that once established our faith and now are taken for granted.  It’s like the doctrine of salvation; though we are saved by knowledge of the truth of the gospel, by believing it, yet it is necessary to never let the glories of the cross fade from our view.  In reminding ourselves, whether by song or by scripture, we are brought further along in our sanctification.

Such remembrance also serves to undergird us in the faith, and ensure that we do not make the same mistakes as those before us.  As Winston Churchill once wrote, “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

The first lesson from history that Jude reminds us of is that of the danger of apostasy. He says in vs 5, “Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe.”

He is, of course, reminding us of the story of Israel, who was delivered from captivity in Egypt by many miracles of God.  God exhibited His power to them again and again.  He gave them His word, His promises, His law.  God dwelt among them.  But nevertheless, they did not believe His word. They were faithless again and again.  They rebelled against Moses. And ultimately, they did not believe that He was able to bring them into the Promised Land, and at the point of entry they rebelled and would not go into the land.

And so God pronounced condemnation upon them, that they would all be destroyed.  We find the record of God’s condemnation in Numbers14: 32, “But as for you, your corpses will fall in this wilderness. Your sons shall be shepherds for forty years in the wilderness, and they will suffer [for] your unfaithfulness, until your corpses lie in the wilderness. According to the number of days which you spied out the land, forty days, for every day you shall bear your guilt a year, [even] forty years, and you will know My opposition. I, the LORD, have spoken, surely this I will do to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against Me. In this wilderness they shall be destroyed, and there they will die.”

This event is also remembered in the Psalms, in Psalm 95 it says, “Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, As in the day of Massah in the wilderness, 9 “When your fathers tested Me, They tried Me, though they had seen My work. For forty years I loathed [that] generation, And said they are a people who err in their heart, And they do not know My ways. Therefore I swore in My anger, Truly they shall not enter into My rest.” And the author of Hebrews, quoting that passage, adds, “they did not enter because of unbelief.”

In that passage, we see that disobedience and unbelief are related.  One happens because of the other.  That’s why we must remember that Jesus correlated belief and obedience.  He said if you love Me you will keep my commandments.  Again and again Jesus urged His hearers not only to believe in Him, but to follow Him.  Belief must be tied to obedience.  As John told us in his epistles, you can’t say you have fellowship with God and yet walk in darkness.  You can’t say you believe in Christ and yet disobey Him. You can’t say you believe and yet rebel against His word. And the lesson we are reminded of in this example is that God punished Israel for their unbelief and disobedience.

The second illustration from history of those that received condemnation because of unbelief is found in vs 6.  “And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day.”  Jude is renowned for bringing up obscure facts in this little letter.  And this particular reference is such a one.

Jude is speaking of an incident regarding fallen angels which is mentioned in Genesis chapter 6. In that passage we read, “Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them,  that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose.  Then the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.”  The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore [children] to them. Those were the mighty men who [were] of old, men of renown.”

There are a lot that of questions that have arisen in regards to these verses which many have offered conjecture.  But I think we can safely say that the sons of God refers to angels, which in this case are fallen angels, part of the demons in Satan’s realm, and they took on the form of man so that they could have sexual relations with the daughters of men.  This act was not only rebellion against God, but it also was an attack by Satan upon the object of God’s love, which was the human race, made in His likeness and made in His image.  Satan orchestrated this to destroy the human race. Many theologians believe that this unholy union caused a half human half demonic offspring that was unredeemable and thus God was forced to destroy the human race in the flood. 

Jude goes on to say that those angels who left their proper place, God has kept in eternal bonds or chains under darkness for the judgement of the great day.  The apostle Peter also references this event in 2Peter 2:4-5 saying, “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment;  and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly.”  Because of the way Peter ties the sin of the angels to the flood is evidence that he is speaking of the same event as Jude.

And by the way, I’ve heard people use the Genesis passage to say that man was limited to live 120 years because of that reference God made that His Spirit would not strive with man forever, but man’s days shall be 120 years.  But that’s not actually a reference to man’s lifespan, but a reference to the time left before the total destruction of the flood, which happened 120 years later.

Now there are a lot of rabbit trails that we could go down on this topic.  But let’s not forget what Jude is trying to convey through this example.  The reminder is that of the sin of autonomy, of denying the lordship of Jesus Christ.  To disobey, to rebel is to deny the Lord’s position of authority, to set ourselves up as the god of our own life, to decide what we think is right, or what we think should be ok, and in so doing, to set ourselves in rebellion against God and due for condemnation at the judgement.  If God did not spare angels when they sinned, neither will He spare us.  God put those angels that left their proper abode in eternal chains, in bondage, some believe that refers to a special section of hell, awaiting the final judgement.

In speaking of the angels sin, Jude segue’s into another form of rebellion, which is similar to that of the angels.  And he speaks of that in vs 7, “just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.” 

Notice than in referencing the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah Jude correlates it to the sin of the angels by saying, “just as.”  “In the same way as these…”  He is saying that the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was like the sin of the angels, in the same way they were immoral and went after strange flesh.

I won’t take the time to read the account from Genesis 18 and 19 as I’m sure you are all familiar with the story.  But as Jude says, we need to be reminded.  The account says that the report of the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah had reached the point where God was going to destroy the city.  He sent two angels in the bodies of men to speak to Lot and his family and take them out of the city, lest they be destroyed with them.  But that night the men of the city congregated at the door of Lot’s house, demanding that he let them come out that they might have sexual relations with them.

Jude say that they pursued unnatural desires.  The Bible teaches that homosexual desire is unnatural desire.  It is rejecting the authority and design of God.  It is rejecting the command of God. God said in Leviticus 18:22 ‘You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination.”  It is a crime against God and man.

Peter spoke of this same event in the same passage we referenced while ago, 2Peter 2:6 “and [if] He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing [them] to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly [lives] thereafter.”   The point both Jude and Peter make is that God condemned the sin of those people, and brought about destruction upon them, as an example for those that come after them.  That we must not rebel against the command of God, lest we suffer the same condemnation.

Jude says they “are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.” God brought fire and brimstone down upon the city and destroyed every living thing.  But in the final judgement, the fire is eternal, it never goes out, and the soul must endure that punishment forever.

After offering these Biblical  examples of the sins of apostasy, autonomy and immorality, Jude says in vs8,  “Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties.”  “ These men” refers back  those of his day, the objects of his letter, the certain persons who had crept in unnoticed into the church, and used the grace of God as a cover for licentiousness and denied the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ.

He says these men are guilty of the same sins as those of the Israelites who refused to believe, as the angels before the flood, and as the men of Sodom and Gomorrah.  He says these men also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties.  

I’m not sure what he means by his statement that they were dreaming.  I suppose it’s a reference to so called prophets who took their stand on visions that they had supposedly seen, which undermined, or over rode the scriptures.  That’s the danger of extra biblical revelation.  It’s not that God did not use visions at times in the past to reveal truth to His prophets.  But the problem is that today dreams and visions are rarely subjected to scripture for authentication.  Let me say this, if your dream is not supported by scripture, then it’s not of God.  Dreams and visions will never go against the scriptures.  But far too often today people claim a dream that they had to supply validation for something that they want to do, which is not aligned with scripture.  In Colossians 2:18 Paul warns against those that take their stand on visions that they have seen, and as such, defraud you of your prize.

Jude says they not only sin by dreaming, but they defile the flesh.  Defiling the flesh is probably a reference to immorality, which covers the gamut of sexual sins.  False doctrine is often used as a covering for immoral behavior.   Jude adds to that they reject authority.  Rejecting authority is tied directly to immoral behavior. But it goes further than just that.  It is rejecting the authority of the scriptures, it rejects the authority even of Jesus Christ, and sets itself up as it’s own authority.  

I can’t help but relate this to many of the mainstream denominations that claim to be Christian but for all intents and purposes have become apostate. They began by denying the authority and inspiration of all the scriptures.  They began to say that some things were simply cultural and we live in a different culture, and so there is no compulsion for us to keep certain restrictions and morals that Paul or other writers spoke of.  And so on that basis they made the decision to allow women as pastors in the church, because that was just a  cultural thing and we’ve gotten so far beyond that today.

And then they took it another step further and said that a homosexual lifestyle is not a sin, and that you can have full fellowship in the church irregardless of your sexual preferences. Then they took it a little further than that and said that since there was nothing wrong with homosexuality then there should be no restraint against ministers who are homosexual. That too should be allowed because we live in a different culture and a different time, and love is love, and God is love, and any scriptures saying otherwise are not to be taken literally.

The problem is that they have rejected the authority of the scriptures.  They have rejected the authority of Jesus Christ; it is His church, and He placed certain restrictions upon it.  And to reject His authority is to sin with the same terrible expectation of judgement that fell upon the Israelites, the angels, and Sodom and Gomorrah.  And if you are still in one of those churches, then I would suggest that you get out like Lot got out of Sodom, lest you end up being condemned along with them.

The third thing Jude says is a characteristic of these false prophets, is that they revile angelic majesties.  I can only assume that he is referencing the account of the angelic messengers who were sought after in the house of Lot by the men of Sodom and Gomorrah.  To revile is to insult.  

Jude says that these men revile angelic majesties.  However, in this case, Jude makes no distinction whether they be holy angels or fallen ones. But he gives us an illustration of reviling an angel, though in this case it is a fallen angel. In vs 9, Jude once again speaks of an event that is nowhere else mentioned in the scriptures.  He says, “But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”

Its very interesting that Jude says that Michael is an archangel. An archangel, from what little we know of such things, is the highest order of angels in the entire hosts of heaven. The Bible indicates there is a hierarchy of angels. I wish we could spend some time talking about angels and their positions, and look at the other references in scripture to Michael.  I don’t have the time to do that today, however.  But if you’re interested in further research you can look at Daniel 10:13, and 1 Thess. 4:16.  

Our purpose here today, and the purpose of Jude, is not to give a dissertation on angels, but to make the point that certain men in the churches were reviling angelic majesties of which they had no business doing, and did so to their own destruction.

As you probably know, Moses was not allowed to go into the Promised Land, however, God took him up on a high mountain that he might see it from a distance.  And then Moses died and the scripture says that God buried Moses in a place that no one knew.  We can read about that in Deut. 34:5-6 “So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD.  And He buried him in the valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor; but no man knows his burial place to this day.”  The indication from Jude, however, is that the devil attempted to claim the body of Moses.  We are not told why, but we might guess that he intended to use it to cause Israel to worship the body of Moses.

The point though that Jude wants to make, is even though Michael is an archangel of God, and has the full authority of that position and incredible power, yet he did not dare pronounce against the devil a railing judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” Michael relied upon the Lord’s authority, and not his own. 

Jude has told us that we are to contend, or fight for the faith. It is a spiritual battle.  And the manner of Michael’s fight is a model for spiritual warfare. First, we see that Michael was in a battle, such as we are when we contend for the faith. Secondly, we see that he battled in the Lord’s authority.  

Michael did not mock or accuse the devil. God hasn’t called us to judge the devil, to condemn the devil, to mock him or accuse him, but to battle against him in the name of the Lord. That doesn’t mean we go around claiming the blood of Jesus over every thing and every body. But that we contend by the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  In His name comprises all the truth of Christ.

But in contrast to the example of Michael, who would not pronounce a railing judgement upon the devil, these certain men Judes speaks of spoke evil, especially when they rejected authority and reviled angelic majesties. Jude says in vs 10, “But these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed.”

I am reminded by this passage of the seven sons of Sceva, who were casting out demons by the name of Paul.  These were men that were in effect false prophets, who were trying to cash in on what they saw Paul doing, but which they had no authority to do.  And it says in Acts 19:13-16 “But also some of the Jewish exorcists, who went from place to place, attempted to name over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, ‘I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.’ Seven sons of one Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this.  And the evil spirit answered and said to them, “I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” And the man, in whom was the evil spirit, leaped on them and subdued all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.”

Jude says these certain men revile things they don’t understand, and by those things they are destroyed.  I find it telling that so many false prophets claim to have authority to cast out demons and they love to proclaim judgements that make them seem like a great man of God, with great power over the spiritual realm, when in fact they are often being duped and even controlled by the very powers that they purport to have authority over.

Well, in this last illustration, Jude has given us an example of whom we are to emulate.  We certainly don’t want to emulate the examples of the rebellious Israelites, nor the fallen angels, nor the men of Sodom and Gomorrah, but the example given we should emulate is that of Michael the archangel.  We are to recognize and bow to the ultimate authority who is Jesus Christ the Lord.  We are to contend for the faith which is His gospel.  We are to obey HIs commands.  We are to fight in the strength that He supplies and rebuke sin and licentiousness in the name of the Lord.  And in that way of following Michael’s example, we will ensure that we do not fall into the same condemnation as those who rebelled and did not believe.  

Love in the truth, 3 John

We come today to the study of a short letter which John wrote to a man who I believe was a pastor of a church of his day. Last week, we looked at another short letter to yet another church. But before we get into the letter, I think it might be helpful to make sure we understand some things about the churches that John was writing to.

I think there is a certain misunderstanding of the early life of the church that causes us a lot of confusion about the way God organized the church, and designed the church to operate.  When we read in the New Testament the word church, we invariably apply a template which is influenced by what the church has evolved into today, rather than what the church looked like when these words were written. 

For instance, we cannot separate in our minds the physical structure of the building that the church is housed in from the idea of a church. When we hear the word church, we automatically envision a building, which looks like what we are used to seeing here in 21st century America.  Tied to that picture in our minds is the organizational structure of the church.  We picture a pastoral staff, a music team, perhaps Sunday School teachers, and all the factors and people and programs that constitute what we are used to seeing in they typical church in America.

But in actuality, that is not what was indicated by the references to the church when the New Testament was written.  The church referred simply to the congregation.  I think that the early church was based loosely on the pattern of the local synagogue which had been in place in Israel for centuries. The synagogue, of course, was not the Jewish Temple nor was it intended to replace it.  But it was a local gathering where devotees could assemble on the Sabbath as well as throughout the week for teaching and for prayer and for studying the word of God.  The leader of the synagogue was a rabbi, a teacher, and the synagogue was in a neighborhood which allowed people to attend services without violating the Sabbath in terms of travel.  It was within a short walk or what was considered aSabbath Day’s journey from their home.  So this place where they gathered was located in a community, and served that local community. The minimum requirement for a synagogue was 10 men.  If they had 10 men they could create a local synagogue.  And that shows the nature of the synagogue as a local assembly for believers in a community. So that also means that in a large city, their could be many local synagogues.

But the similarity of the first century church with the synagogue was not that they had a centrally located building that they conducted services from, but that they were local, small assemblies based in a community. The fact is, there is no record at all that they had a building of any sort.  These local churches met in the homes of one of it’s members. Possibly the pastor’s, but not necessarily.  It might have been more conducive to meet in a certain home because of it’s central location, or because of it’s size.  And again, there may have been several local churches in a large city, with each serving it’s local community.

Now in the church universal, there were certain men who were appointed by the apostles to establish or serve the local churches.  They may have even been called apostles, but it was understood they were not the 12, but acting under the authority of the 12.  For instance, Mark was a disciple of Peter.  He also was under Paul for a  while, but then became associated more with Peter.  Timothy was also an understudy of Paul, as was Titus.  Both of those men worked with apostolic authority to establish and serve regional churches beyond their own church.  And I think we can assume that John has such understudies who he has set up in various churches.  I believe we can assume that Gaius was a pastor who John has established, whom he has authority over, and Demetrius whom he talks about traveling to visit with Gaius’s church is an emissary of the apostle John.

These men were missionaries, or evangelists, or intenerant preachers who were sent out from the apostles to establish churches in every city. Eph. 4:11 says, “And He gave some [as] apostles, and some [as] prophets, and some [as] evangelists, and some [as] pastors and teachers,  for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ.”  In some cases these men raised up local pastors to carry on the work, or in other cases they merely ministered the word to the church, perhaps carrying a letter, a newly penned epistle from an apostle, so that the churches in those regions had access to the word of God.  These men disseminated the gospel, the word of God, penned by the apostles to the churches at large.  And that was an on going thing, because until practically the end of the first century the New Testament canon was not complete, but it came piecemeal.  And so this was an important means of supporting the churches that were being born throughout the Gentile world.

Now I say all of that because I think it’s important to understand the framework of the church in order to properly understand the letters of Second and Third John.  As I said last week,  I think that in Second John, when he writes to the chosen lady and her children, he is speaking euphemistically to a local church and the congregation. He may have used such language so as not to bring persecution on that particular church.  In Third John, my belief is that he is writing to a pastor of a local congregation in another city, a man by the name of Gaius.  Gaius is a very common Greek name at that time.  It’s a name that we find mentioned elsewhere in the New Testament, but it’s unlikely that those names are speaking of the same person as in this letter.  

So the apostle John, who identifies himself only as the elder, is writing to a local pastor named Gaius of an unknown church in an unknown town.  We have no further information to identify him. But this is a man well known by John.  He calls him beloved, whom I love in the truth. John mentions twice that he loves him.  I would assume that this man is a convert of John, and as such they have a special relationship.  

John says in vs1 “The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth.”  Gaius is loved by God and loved by John because of the truth which Gaius professes.  Gaius and John are united by the truth.  They have fellowship because they share a common truth, and that is the truth of the gospel.  We are going to see in this epistle, what John has been speaking of in the previous two epistles, that the enemy is trying to attack the truth, to subvert the truth through false teachers. So John loves this man because he is committed to the same truth that John teaches.

And then in vs2, John offers a prayer for this pastor’s physical well being.  Notice how he says it, “Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers.”  John knows enough about this man to know that he is spiritually in good health, he is walking in the truth.  But he also prays that he would be in good physical health, and would prosper.  I don’t think that the word prosper means that he hopes that he will win the lottery, or land a financial windfall.  But what he means is that he is successful in his endeavors.  He is able to do the work physically and have every need supplied so that he is not hindered by his circumstances.

He then commends Gaius for his walk in the truth. John wants to encourage this pastor who is perhaps laboring in a small church, laboring without a lot of accolades or publicity.  But who is faithful in his stewardship.  He is acknowledging what this man is doing, and he gives him praise and encouragement.  He says in vs 3, “For I was very glad when brethren came and testified to your truth, [that is,] how you are walking in truth. I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth.”

These brethren that bore a good report to John about Gaius, were no doubt the evangelists, or missionaries that John had previously sent to the churches.  We might assume that Demetrius who he speaks of near the end of this letter was in that group of men.

John said something similar to the church in 2 John.  He said it gave him great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth.   In this letter, he is glad to hear that Gaius is walking in the truth, and John said nothing made him happier than to hear of his children walking in the truth.  By that we can assume that when John speaks of his children, he is speaking of Gaius being his child spiritually.  In other words, John probably led him to the Lord and discipled him.

That is such an important aspect to the job of the church, by the way.  The job of the church is not to just make converts, but to make disciples.  To be a disciple means to follow. To follow your teaching.  To walk in the truth given. And as a pastor, there should be no greater joy than to see a person whom you brought to the Lord continue in their walk with the Lord, walking in the truth, year after year.  Growing in the Lord. That is our goal.  Gaius has exemplified faithfulness, and he continues to walk in the truth, in contrast to others John spoke about previously in 1 John 2,  who he said went out from us, that it might be shown that they were not of us. 

Then for the second time, John commends Gaius’s faithfulness. He says in vs 5, “Beloved, you are acting faithfully in whatever you accomplish for the brethren, and especially [when they are] strangers; and they have testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God.”  

John praises Gaius’s faithfulness in regards to way he has shown love for the brethren, and especially when they are strangers.  When we show love towards the brethren, we show faithfulness to God’s commands.  We show that we are walking in the truth by our actions, by our love towards the brethren. The brethren here spoken of are undoubtedly the same men who visited the church on behalf of John, and then carried a report back to John of Gaius’s hospitality and love towards them.

I can’t read that passage without thinking of the verse in Heb. 13:2  which says, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.”  Now we don’t show hospitality only because they might be angels, but we show hospitality towards the brethren because that’s the way we express God’s love. We are commanded to love the brethren, the stranger, and even our enemies with the love with which God loves us.  But there is the added factor that in so doing you might be entertaining angels unawares. By the way, that indicates that it’s unlikely that you recognize an angel.  The author of Hebrews says you are unaware that they are an angel.  

But in this case, these strangers were emissaries from the Apostle John.  And they received hospitality from Gaius and his church.  I used to be in the hotel business many years ago.  It’s also called the hospitality business. But the word hospitality has a broader meaning that just a room for the night.  Hospitality comes from the same root word as hospital.  It means to care for the physical needs of someone, whether that is food, or clothing, or medicine, or shelter, or other physical needs that they might have.

And these emissaries, these brethren, were clearly identified with the truth, with the gospel according to John. Gaius recognized that about these men, and so he welcomed them into their homes, into their congregation.   Now that act of hospitality is in contrast to the church that John wrote to in 2 John.  In 2 John, you will remember that John warned about false prophets who were trying to take advantage of the church, he said, 2John 1:10-11 “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into [your] house, and do not give him a greeting;  for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.”  So in the first church John wrote to, he said do not show hospitality to these false teachers, don’t even give them a greeting. But in the second letter,  perhaps because these men bore letters from John as introduction, Gaius recognizes them as being of the truth, and he welcomes them and shows love towards them in physical ways by showing them hospitality while they were visiting them.  

John says, you will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God.  I think John indicates here that Gaius should treat them as he would treat the Lord.  In Matt. 25:34-40 Jesus said, “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.  ‘For I was hungry, and you gave Me [something] to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me [something] to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’  “Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You [something] to drink?  ‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You?  ‘When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ “The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, [even] the least [of them,] you did it to Me.’”  So showing hospitality to strangers who are of the truth, is a way that we can show love towards God.

Concerning those emissaries, John said in vs7, “For they went out for the sake of the Name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles.  Therefore we ought to support such men, so that we may be fellow workers with the truth.”  They went out, they left their home, for the sake of Jesus Christ, for the sake of sharing the truth of Jesus Christ with this church.  They were being obedient to the mandate that Christ gave to go into all the world and preach the gospel, making disciples of all men.  They were faithful to that call. Therefore, John says, it’s only right that we support such men by physical means who labor for the gospel. It is the duty of the church to support them.

You know, not all of us are called to be pastors, or evangelists, or missionaries. But we can share in their ministry by supporting such people.  It’s not proper for Christians to seek support from the world for their ministry.  We avoid seeking out government grants or support from the world, from non believers.  I think that’s actually a bad reflection on Christ when Christians have to try to get support from non-Christian entities.  But we should be able to count on support from the church.  And that’s what  Gaius appears to have done for these men, and he is commended for that, and held up as an example for the church even today.

In Matthew 10:41 Jesus tells us that “He who receives a prophet in [the] name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward.  “And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward.”  So when we share in the work of an evangelist or missionary or church, then we share in the reward that will be given to those people as well.

Then John turns from commending Gaius for his hospitality, to reproving another pastor named Diotrephes for his lack of hospitality.  This may have been the pastor of another church in that city, or that region whose pastor Diotrephes wants nothing to do with the brethren that John sent.

He says in vs9, “I wrote something to the church; but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not accept what we say.  For this reason, if I come, I will call attention to his deeds which he does, unjustly accusing us with wicked words; and not satisfied with this, he himself does not receive the brethren, either, and he forbids those who desire [to do so] and puts [them] out of the church.”

We don’t know a lot about Diotrephes either.  But I think it’s safe to assume he is the pastor of another church in the same region.  But this pastor doesn’t walk in the truth.  He obviously rejects the truth which is taught by John.  He doesn’t want to be held accountable to that truth.  And so he wants nothing to do with John or his emissaries.  Furthermore, he doesn’t accept the letter which John had written.  We don’t know for sure if this is 1 John, or perhaps another unknown letter.  But either way, it’s similar to not accepting scripture.  Not wanting to have to be accountable to scripture.


John says it’s because Diotrephes loves to be first.  I was talking to someone the other day about leadership in the church.  And how humility is one of the most important characteristics for leadership.  That, and the heart of a servant. Jesus said in Mark 10:42-45 “You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them; and their great men exercise authority over them. But it is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant; and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Humility and servanthood are essential for a pastor or church leader.

On the other hand, one of the signs of a false prophet is that they are self aggrandizing. They love the spotlight. They draw attention to themselves. And the other is that they are always after money. John doesn’t mention that as an attribute of Diotrephes, but I would suspect that perhaps he doesn’t want to share with the brethren, because he wants everything for himself. If you watch a few of those false prophets on TBN,  you will soon realize that they never tire of asking for money in spite of owning private jets and mansions overlooking the Pacific, and great amounts of land and buildings for their so called television studios.

John says, if he comes, he will reveal the truth about this guy.  John is pretty old at this point.  He is in his 90’s.  Such a trip would undoubtedly be very difficult for him.  That’s probably why he sent the emissaries, to speak for him.  But even though it would be a very difficult trip, it sounds as if his intention is to come because he fears for the church there under this fraud who is the pastor there. Diotrephes even censors his own people by putting out of the church those who wanted to show hospitality to the brethren.

Then John gives a final admonition to Gaius as he closes the letter.  He says in vs 11 “Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God.” Four times now John uses this term beloved to refer to Gaius. And he now encourages him to continue in the walk of truth.  He says imitate what is good, not what is evil.

I think what he is saying is that there are two types of behavior on example before you.  One is Demetrius, the disciple of John, who teaches the truth, who walks in the truth, who carries the truth of the gospel to the church.  The other is Diotrephes, who rejects the truth, who walks in his own counsel, who rejects the commands of God to love one another and show hospitality, and who loves to be seen in first place.  One does good, one does evil.  John says, walk after the one who does good.  Follow his example.  Imitate him.  Don’t follow the bad example of Diotrephes.

Demetrius is well spoke of by everyone, that is those who are of the truth.  He has a good reputation.  John has commended him, he has sent him and speaks well of him.  And so Gaius can be confident as he patterns his life in imitation of this man.

You know, when I spoke to this person last week concerning spiritual leadership, that aspect of being an example of a godly person was a key point that I made.  It’s not just what they say, but what they do that is important.  The kind of life they live is an example for other Christians to follow, and the message of their life is more effective than the message of their mouth.

That’s why when Paul wrote Timothy about the credentials for spiritual leadership in the church he said that he should not be “a new convert, so that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil.” And then he added “These men must also first be tested; then let them serve as deacons if they are beyond reproach.”  In other words, there must be a time of testing, of being proven that their walk matches their talk.  That they are not prideful.  He says in another place, don’t lay hands on anyone too suddenly.  That means, don’t appoint someone as a leader in the church too soon.  Give it time for their life to become apparent.

Demetrius had proven himself to John and the brethren.  And he was commended to Gaius that he should imitate that man’s walk in the truth. That’s how we disciple people, by the way. It’s by our example of living out our faith in their sight so that they might follow in our footsteps.  That’s a big responsibility on our part.  To walk in the truth, giving no cause for offense, not putting a stumbling block before others by our actions. But letting our deeds match our words. Our actions, match our profession.

John ends this message the same way he did in the previous letter.  He wants to say more, but he hopes to do it in person, rather than in a letter.  He closes by saying peace to you.  The friends here, that is the church here with John, send their greetings to him and his church.  And he asks Gaius to greet those in his church by name on his behalf. 

It’s a short letter, a letter of commendation, of warning, and an admonition to imitate godly leaders and shun evil ones.  Let us consider how we can apply this instruction to our walk, as we walk in the truth,  being sure to show love and hospitality to the church, and by being a godly example to others.

In Defense of the Truth, 2 John 1:5-13

We are continuing in our study of 2 John today.  Last week we looked at the first four verses, in which the word truth is used five times. The importance of the truth is the theme of this epistle.  As we continue in our study of the remaining verses, you will notice that we no longer see the word truth.  But nevertheless, the truth is still the focus of the passage, it’s just referred to in different ways.

For instance, starting in vs five John refers to the truth as the commandment.  God’s commandments are truth.  He is not merely talking about the 10 commandments, but about all the commands of God, all the word of God, the truth of God.  

Then in vs 7, he speaks of deceivers.  To be a deceiver is to be someone who speaks the opposite of the truth, or who subverts the truth.  You must have a standard of truth in order to determine if someone is a deceiver. 

Then in vs 9 John speaks of the teachings of Christ.  Well, Christ taught the truth about God.  He said He was the way, the truth and the life. To speak of Christ’s teaching then is just another way of speaking of the truth.  So the thrust of the epistle is the importance of the truth.  And I think ultimately he is writing to the church to defend the truth. John just refers to the truth in a variety of ways so that we understand the full scope of what constitutes truth.

So this little epistle is about the truth.  It’s about defending the truth, living in the truth, as he said in vs four, walking in the truth.  Jesus said that we are to worship God in spirit and in truth.  Jesus said that the word of God was truth.  And Paul said that the church is the pillar and support of the truth.  So John writes here to a particular church and the congregation of that church, whom he calls the chosen lady and her children.  He uses a euphemism or an indirect way of addressing the church in order to perhaps protect them from undue persecution.  But he writes them a warning to defend the truth, to uphold the truth, to abide in the truth in light of the deceivers that are working to destroy the church.

John is reaching the end of his life, probably in his nineties at this point.  And like Peter and Paul who have since died, he recognizes that in the life of the church since Pentecost, there are many deceivers, many antichrists that have risen from among the ranks of the church, whose diabolical goal is to destroy the church.  

Paul spoke of that happening many years previously as he was leaving the church at Ephesus, which John was now the pastor of.  Paul said many years earlier, in Acts 20:29 “I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock;  and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.”

And John sees that very thing happening.  He has already written in 1 John 2:18 “Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour.”  And he says virtually the same thing in this letter to this church in vs 7, saying, “For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ [as] coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.”  The deceivers are those who have subverted the truth about Christ.

So in vs 4, which we looked at last time, John said he rejoiced to see that some of the lady’s children were walking in the truth.  He’s referring to some of the congregation of this church.  That’s the goal of our instruction, that a believer walks in the truth.  To walk refers to a lifestyle, to your manner of living.  To live in accordance with the truth.

Jesus said to the Father concerning His disciples in His prayer before His crucifixion, “Sanctify them in the truth, Your word is truth.”  Sanctification is the progression of our walk with Christ.  To walk in the truth speaks of the process of sanctification.  And sanctification is an essential part of our salvation. Heb. 12:14 says, “Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.”  Sanctification is the process of living holy lives, being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.  Sanctification happens as a result of, and following our justification. In the full scope of salvation, we are first justified, then sanctified, and then glorified.  All three elements are essential to salvation.  Sanctification is our walk in the truth.

John says though, in order to walk in the truth, we must love in the truth.  He says in vs5 and 6, “Now I ask you, lady, not as though [I were] writing to you a new commandment, but the one which we have had from the beginning, that we love one another. And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it.”

Notice the sequence.  John says we must walk in the truth.  Then he says we must love one another.  And then he says love is to walk in His commandments.  So to walk in the truth is to walk in love, and to walk in love is to walk in the commandments.  That’s an echo of what Jesus taught in John 14:15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”

This is critical to understand; you cannot separate obedience from love. You cannot say “Oh, how I love Jesus,” and not keep His commandments.  John said back in 1John1:6  “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and [yet] walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.”  You cannot say you love God, you have fellowship with God, and walk in sin, or not walk according to the commandments.  If you say that, you are lying, and you do not practice the truth.  There it is again, the correlation of truth with the commandments, the teaching of Christ.  The idea of practicing the truth is the same as to walk in the truth. It doesn’t mean you are perfect, but it does mean you get better at it with practice.

But on the other hand, he adds to that principle in the next verse, 1 John 1:7, “but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”  Notice the sequence there.  If you walk in the Light, that is you walk in the truth, then you have fellowship with one another.  In other words, walking in the truth produces love, or fellowship with one another.  It’s interesting, that he doesn’t say that walking in the truth produces love for God, but he says that walking in the truth produces love for one another.  We show our love for God by loving one another, and we love one another by keeping His commandments.

That indicates that love is not a sentiment, it’s not a feeling that you have towards someone, or an attraction that you have, but love is a commitment to obey God by serving others.  I conducted a marriage ceremony yesterday, and I was reminded in the vows that in marriage we do not just make vows to one another.  But we make a vow to God to love one another with a sacrificial, serving love. That’s why the marriage vows are binding for as long as you live.  Because you made a vow to God, which is not predicated on how you feel now, nor on how you may feel 30 years from now.  But it’s a vow to obey God which is to love one another until death brings separation from that vow.

Now back in our text, John says that the command is not new, but it is old, one we had from the beginning. What is he talking about here?  Well, Jesus answers that in His response to a lawyer who asked him what was the greatest commandment.  Jesus said in Matt. 22:37-40 ‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”  

So these two commandments, given hundreds of years before, were the summary of all the commandments.  All the commandments hinge on loving God and loving your neighbor.  So as Paul said in Romans 13:10, “Love does no wrong to a neighbor, therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”  And he said in 1Cor. 16:14 “Let all that you do be done in love.”  Love is the result of walking in the truth, of walking in the commandments.

So, John admonishes the church to walk in the truth, and then love in the truth, and then his final point, guard the truth, or defend the truth.  This is a vital function of the church, to guard the truth, to defend the truth.  Because the truth is and always has been under attack since the beginning, and that attack continues today.  In fact, I would say that the truth is being assaulted more today than ever before.  In the past, it was pretty much a front on attack.  But today, it’s much more insidious than that. It’s a flank attack or even an attack from the rear. The attacks against the truth today are camouflaged as being sensible, as being relevant, as scientific, as more contemporary interpretations of the truth.  And instead of many attacks coming from outside of the church, they are coming from within the church.

John starts this admonition with a warning; vs 7, “For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ [as] coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.  Watch yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward.”  

Back in 1 John 4, John said in vs 1, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”  These false prophets John calls deceivers, antichrists who are filled with the spirit of deception and who seek to destroy the church.  When I speak of the church, I’m not speaking of an institution, but of the Christians that make up the church.  And these false prophets destroy the church by undermining the truth.

Notice that John says there are many deceivers.  Not just a few. I would dare to say that the majority of the mainstream churches today have gone so far astray from the truth today that it is unlikely that anyone in their congregations can understand enough truth to be saved.  Satan has skillfully infiltrated the church pulpits with pastors that have abandoned the authority of scripture, they have abandoned the doctrine of absolute truth; they have abandoned the principle that there is no other way to be saved than through Jesus Christ, they have abandoned any teaching about sin, they have abandoned the inerrancy of scripture in regards to creation, or the doctrine of the judgement of God upon sin, and about hell.  They preach another Christ, another gospel, which is really not another gospel at all, but the doctrine of demons.  That’s why John says they have the spirit of antichrist.  

Antichrist means another Christ. A Christ who didn’t come as God in the flesh to die for sin as a substitute for sinners, to pay the penalty for the judgment of God. But a Christ who just set an example for how we are to live.  The false prophets of John’s day were saying that Jesus wasn’t God, but that He was just a man upon whom the Spirit of God came at His baptism, and left when He died upon the cross. If that were true, then Jesus was not God incarnate, and He could not atone for sin, and He could not accomplish forgiveness for our sins. But false prophets offer many varieties on that false doctrine.  But the end result is they diminish Jesus Christ and His gospel, and subvert the truth so as to lead people in destruction.

John says to the church, “watch out for yourselves.”  Don’t be duped, don’t be deceived by the reasoning of false teachers. This is not just some theoretical exercise, but false teachers and false doctrine is dangerous to you and to your loved ones.  John says if you fall prey to it,  It’s possible to lose what you have accomplished, to lose your reward.  Now he isn’t talking about losing your salvation here.  Salvation is not a reward for our behavior, but it’s a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.  Salvation is by grace, and therefore, according to Romans 11:29,  “the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” If God gave it to you, He isn’t going to take it away.  

So then what is John referring to, when he says you might lose your reward? I believe that it means you lose the reward which God will give for those works of righteousness which we have done for the kingdom of God.  The Bible teaches us that there are rewards in heaven for the things we have done as Christians for the kingdom of God.  But if you become duped by false teachers and adopt false teaching, you stand to lose out on your reward because you will be found to be following a doctrine that retards your sanctification and consequently makes to no effect your work for the kingdom.  But there is a reward for those that walk in the truth and fulfill their stewardship as servants of Christ.  Jesus said in Rev. 22:12 “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward [is] with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done.”

So we have been warned to guard against deceivers, to beware of false prophets because they are working to destroy the truth.  That truth John correlates to the teaching of Jesus  Christ.  It’s what in other places is referred to as the apostle’s doctrine.  It’s the gospel of Jesus Christ.  And that means all of the apostle’s doctrine.  Not just a segment of it, or cherry picking bits and pieces of it that you like, and discarding those you don’t.  But the acceptance and belief in all of Christ’s teaching.  That is the truth.

John continues his warning about abandoning the truth in vs.9, 2 “Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son.”  I think that when John says here “anyone” or in some versions, “everyone”, I believe he is referring to those false teachers he spoke of in vs 7.  He is describing them as someone that has gone too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ.  They have left the path of truth, and taken off down a rabbit trail that may seem to be connected to the truth, but in fact is a diversion.

What he says is the way you can know if someone is a false prophet, is an antichrist, is whether or not they abide in the teaching of Christ. If they don’t abide in Christ’s teaching, then he says they are not of God, and you should not listen to them.  Think of the cults for a moment.  All the major cults either add to the scriptures, or they add to the gospel of salvation, and they usually add another apostle, who they won’t admit has the same authority as Peter, Paul and John, or even Jesus Himself, but in practice they give this person even greater authority to define, and determine what scripture is really saying.  People like Joseph Smith, who started the Mormons.  Or Mary Baker Eddy, who started Christian Scientists.  Or Ellen White who started the Seventh Day Adventists. Or Charles Russel who started the Jehovah Witnesses.  All of these people’s writings are prodigious, rivaling scripture. And their disciples consider them to be of the same authority as the scriptures. 

But according to John, we can know that they are false by the fact they don’t abide in the teachings of Christ. But those who abide in the teachings of Christ, John says, have both the Father and the Son.  You should remember what Jesus said concerning His teaching – that He spoke the things from His Father.  In John 8:26, Jesus said “I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true; and the things which I heard from Him, these I speak to the world.” And in vs 28  Jesus said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am [He,] and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me.”  So there is no disparity between what the Father says and what Jesus says.  If you abide in His teaching, then you have both the Father and the Son.

John feels so strongly about the truth, he feels so passionately about the deceivers who are trying to subvert the truth, that he says we should have nothing to do with them.  We should avoid them, abstain from their teaching, and abstain from fellowship with them.  He says in vs 10, “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into [your] house, and do not give him a greeting.”

In the early church, they usually met in one another’s houses.  There were no church buildings such as is common today.  So John is saying if someone comes to your church bringing a teaching that is not in accordance with Christ’s teaching, then don’t even let them in the building.  Don’t give them a platform to air their deceit. Don’t welcome them into your house.

See, there is a limit to love. Love must be in the truth. Love doesn’t accept everything and everyone that comes down the pike when such people are really deceivers who are trying to destroy the truth.  Love is jealous of the truth.  Love guards the truth, defends the truth.  Love does not give place to that which will hurt the child of God, which deceives the Christian, which defrauds the church of her reward.  There is a time and place to be vigilant, even to be militant for the sake of the truth of the gospel.  Love doesn’t mean we accept those false teachers and give place to them.

You know, there is a place for righteous anger.  I get angry at the false teachers which proliferate the so called Christian television stations.  I get angry because they are able to come right into the living rooms of people’s homes and far too many naive Christians welcome them with open arms and naively accept their false teaching.  I get angry over that.  I’m sure some of you think I shouldn’t get angry.  But I think Jesus got angry and yet did not sin.  He got angry at the deceitfulness that was going on in the temple, which was the house of God.  He said you have made my Father’s house a den of thieves.  And He took a bullwhip and cleaned out the temple and kicked over their tables and chased them out.

Paul spoke to Timothy about false prophets and deceivers who he said they were to avoid.  2Tim. 3:6-8 “For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.  Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these [men] also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith.” 

Now I think Paul is not denigrating women there, but using a metaphor for spiritually weak people in the church, who allowed false teachers into their homes, who may have sincerely had a desire to know the truth, but were unable to do so, and in fact were deceived because they were learning from false teachers who were opposed to the truth. And so I think we are justified in feeling some anger towards those people who put a stumbling block before others, who prey on the weak.

But of course, when we call out these false prophets,  we risk being accused of being unloving.  I saw a story the other day on the news about a father whose son came home from school and said that a man had approached him at the bus stop and did some things that made him feel uncomfortable.  And so the father staked out the bus stop the next morning.  The man in question jogged by the bus stop at his usual time, and stopped to speak to the young boy, and reportedly touched the boy inappropriately. This jogger by the way, was one of the pastors of a local church.

Well, when the father of the boy saw this man touching his child that way, he took off and tackled this guy and from the looks of the photo, he permanently rearranged the culprits face.  Now you may not think that was very nice.  But I happen to think that is what love looks like.  That father loved his son so much that he would take whatever action was necessary in order to assure that this creep would never get the chance to take advantage of anyone again. Now I am not advocating violence against false teachers, however I am advocating that we avoid them like the plague, that we do not give them any platform, not even extend to them a Christian greeting, lest we find that we share in his evil teaching of subverting the truth, and putting a stumbling block before the naive.

So in this little letter to this unnamed church, John wanted to make it clear that the truth is essential, that walking in the truth is the means by which we show love for one another, and that the defense of the truth is critical to the life of the church.  He goes on to say that there are other things he wants to tell them, but he will wait until he sees them face to face.  These things he wrote about he felt were too critical to wait, but the rest he will tell them when he comes, so that their joy may be full.

And then he closes his letter by saying, 2John 1:13  “The children of your chosen sister greet you.”  I think that is merely the way in which he references the people in his church who are sending their sister church their greetings.   And I am sure that the Spirit of Truth, writing through John, speaks to our church the same things, that we should walk in the truth, love in the truth, and defend the truth.  Let us be on guard against deceivers who are preying on the church and distorting or subverting the truth.  

Living in the Truth, 2 John 1:1-4

For those of you who may be unfamiliar with my history, I grew up as a pastor’s kid. I actually was born during the time my dad was in Bible college and he became a pastor shortly thereafter.  So consequently, I spent most of my early life in church. I grew up hearing the gospel, the stories of the Old and New Testament, singing the hymns, participating in some sort of church service at least three times a week, and sometimes more.

But when I was about 21 years old, I left home, pretty much abandoned my faith, and ran as far away from my upbringing as I possibly could.  The result was that I reached a point when I wasn’t sure what I believed anymore.  During those years I had also been exposed to certain doctrines  from churches which called themselves Christian, but which were in opposition to a lot of what I had been taught growing up, and the result was I was very confused.

When I finally came to my senses, to use a phrase from the parable of the prodigal son, I surrendered to the Lord one evening in a garage in Redondo Beach, California.  I had been wrestling under the conviction from the Lord all day, and finally came home to a party going on in my apartment, which I had no interest in joining in, so I went down to the garage and shut the door and tried to pray.

At first it seemed that my prayers bounced right back at me off the ceiling.  They didn’t seem to go anywhere.  And at that moment fear gripped my heart as I thought perhaps I had gone too far, and God would no longer hear me.  Desperate at that point, I cried out to the Lord in earnest, crying out loud, “Lord, have mercy on me! Please hear me!”  I knew I had gone astray.  I needed to be saved from my sin, delivered, cleansed, restored.  And God heard me, and He cleansed me, He forgave me, He renewed a right spirit within me.

I prayed a lot of things to the Lord in that garage, but one thing that was foremost in my prayer that I remember clearly, was saying to God that I wanted to know the truth. I  didn’t care if the truth was different than everything I had learned growing up in the church, but I wanted to know the truth, and I said if God would show it to me, then I would be obedient to it.

Well, after I finished getting right with God in the garage, I went upstairs to my room, and I found a copy of the New Testament and opened it to the gospel of John.  I read the entire gospel in one sitting.  Not that big of a feat, by the way.  You can read  it through in a couple of hours or so. 

And towards the end of the book I came across a particular verse which seemed to answer my prayer about knowing the truth.  It’s in John 16:13  “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.”  Later on, I found another verse speaking of that same principle in 1John 2:27 which says, “As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.”   

Now let me make it clear that those verses are not saying that we don’t need to hear the preaching of the gospel, or to attend a Bible study, that we don’t need to be taught anything.  It’s not saying that.  There are a lot of scriptures instructing pastors to preach and teach the church. But what they are saying, is that it’s possible to know the truth.  The Holy Spirit, which John calls the anointing in 1 John 2, is given to us so that we might know the truth.  God wants us to know the truth.  The truth matters to God, and the truth is essential to our salvation and sanctification. 

It should be patently evident, that not everything you hear in the church today, or read in some Christian book, or see or listen to on Christian media, is the truth. John spent quite a lot of time in 1 John warning us that there are antichrists in the church, false teachers in the church, that deceive, that twist the truth, pervert the truth, and obscure the truth.  So we must be discerning, and we can be discerning by the Spirit of Truth who is in us, who will guide us in the truth as we are obedient to the truth.

So God confirmed to me through scripture that I could know the truth.  It may take perseverance and obedience to learn the truth, but God wants us to know the truth. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life.  He said you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.  So it’s critical that we know the truth.  Jesus also said, “God is Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”  In His high priestly prayer Jesus prayed to the Father, “Your word is truth.”  He also said He would send us the Spirit of Truth to guide us in the truth. So we cannot be saved without knowing the truth, and we cannot worship God unless it’s in accordance to the truth.  Adherence to the truth must be paramount in the Christian life.

So the truth must be of paramount importance in the church.  I started this church out of a passionate desire to proclaim the truth.  There are a lot of churches out there, but I felt a need to start a church that is founded on the truth and does not deviate from it.  My calling to preach the gospel is due to the conviction that I had that the truth needed to be proclaimed in a direct, and unequivocal way. 

One of the verses that I based my calling to preach upon is Paul’s admonition to a young pastor named Timothy which is found in 2Tim. 2:15 “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.”

So the scripture is the source of absolute truth. And through the guidance of the Spirit of truth we must study the word so that we might know the truth. There is no other reliable source of absolute truth.  And that means that the source of truth in preaching is the truth of the word of God. That means that the foundation of the church is the truth of the word of God.  Paul said in 1Tim. 3:15 “but in case I am delayed, [I write] so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.” That means that the basis for Christian fellowship is the truth of the word of God. You know, a lot of people put their desire for fellowship at a higher premium than their desire for truth. But there can be no unity without unity in the truth.  Our fellowship is to be based on a common belief in the truth.

Now all of that is perhaps the longest introduction to a message I have ever given.  But John has a lot to say about truth, and particularly in this little epistle of 2 John, we see a great emphasis on the truth.  For instance, just in the first four verses he mentions truth five times. Altogether, John speaks of truth some 37 times in his writings.  So truth is important to John, it’s important to God, it should be important to the church,  and the truth’s essentiality is the reason for this letter.

As we look at this letter, we see that the writer identifies himself only as the elder.  And he writes to the chosen lady and her children.  The conservative view is that ancient Bible scholars have always attributed this letter and the next letter as from the apostle John.  John would have been in his 90’s at this point.  He is the last living apostle.  It’s possible that the term elder is indicative of his age. But it’s also probable, and more likely, that he uses elder as a title, which he has not only over the church in Ephesus, but over the church at large. He obviously considers himself the elder to the lady he is writing to, and she is obviously not in his church in Ephesus.  So more than likely it is a term that has superseded the term apostle, since his apostleship is not in question by this point, and furthermore, he is the only one still living.

So it’s well accepted that John is the author.  What’s not so universally agreed upon is who is the chosen lady.  There is a lot of debate on this point.  Some see her as an individual lady who he is familiar with, who has children that he knows, and who is well loved by the churches. Others see the phrase “chosen lady” as a reference to a particular church.  John is writing at a time of persecution of the church, and so he may be deliberately disguising his name and the name of the church in order to avoid persecution.  I guess I tend to lean towards the idea that he is writing to a church.  Though in the next epistle, he writes to an individual man by the name of Gaius, so it’s possible that he is writing one letter to a woman, and another letter to a man, but in both cases, the letters have a broader audience than just the recipient.  But I suppose that it’s best to look at it from the perspective that he is writing to a church and her children would refer to the members of that local body.

Now there are four points that I think John makes concerning truth in the opening four verses of this passage.  And the first point he makes is that the truth unites us.  I have already alluded to this principle which is found in many places in scripture. It is the truth that unites us. Look at verse 1. “The elder to the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in truth and not only I but also all who know the truth.” 

What John is saying there is that our commonality is the truth. Our unity, our fellowship is not based on a denomination. It’s not based on some perception of spirituality. Our connection to one another is based on a body of truth, the word of truth, the revealed truth. It is the truth that unites us. As Christians, our common denominator is that we hold to the truth taught by the scriptures.  There are certain doctrines that must be held in common for us to have fellowship with one another. True believers are linked not by an organization, not by some nebulous testimony to Christ or God, but by a common knowledge of and belief in the truth of the gospel. John says the basis of their relationship, the basis of Christian love, is the truth.  Without that shared truth, there would be no relationship, no fellowship, no unity, no love for one another.

To be honest, I get a little exasperated with some Christians who seem to have this insatiable desire for fellowship at the expense of truth.  They may come to our church, they at least tacitly acknowledge that we teach the truth, they seem to appreciate that.  But then they go to other churches, other “Bible studies”  or whatever you want to call them, for the sake of fellowship.  But from the little I know of a lot of such groups or churches, they don’t hold to the same truth that we hold to.  They remind me of the warning that Paul made concerning the latter days, in 2Tim. 4:3-4 “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but [wanting] to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires,  and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.”   We need to have a greater desire for the truth than a desire for fellowship, especially fellowship with those who don’t teach sound doctrine, who have turned away from the pure truth of the word for doctrines designed to please people. For teaching that tells you what you want to hear, rather than what you need to hear.

So John says it is the truth that unites us, that we have fellowship in. Secondly, John says that the truth indwells us, in verse 2. He goes on to say about the chosen lady, “whom I love in truth, and not only I but also all who know the truth for the sake of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever.” We’re not only united by the truth, we’re indwelled by the truth. The truth abides in us and will be with us forever.

Back in 1 John chapter 2 vs 20, which I quoted earlier, John says, “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know.  I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth.” So you can know the truth because the Spirit of Truth has come upon you.  If you are a Christian, then the Spirit of Truth dwells in you, to teach you, to guide you in the truth. 1Cor. 2:12 says, “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God.”  That’s the Spirit’s primary purpose, is to guide us in the truth.  He has revealed the truth primarily through the scriptures, and then He gives us insight so that we can understand the scriptures.

This is a very critical passage in which Paul explains how we are indwelled by the Spirit of truth so that we might know the truth.  1Cor. 2:12-16 “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God,  which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual [thoughts] with spiritual [words.]  But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.  But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one.  For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ.”  We are indwelled by His Spirit, the Spirit of truth, so that the truth of Christ is in us.

And by the way, the indwelling of the Spirit is not some sort of second blessing that you have to seek, you have to have some ecstatic experience in order to receive.  You receive the Spirit upon conversion, at salvation.  Paul says in Romans 8:9, “However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.”  So if you’re saved, you have the Spirit in you.  If you don’t have the Spirit, then you are not saved.  You receive the Spirit instantly upon salvation.

So how important is the truth? It is the source of our salvation, it is the source of our fellowship, and it is our abiding confidence. Notice John says there in vs 2, “for the sake of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever.”  The truth will be with us forever.  1Peter 1:25  says,  “BUT THE WORD OF THE LORD ENDURES FOREVER.” And this is the word which was preached to you.” I believe that’s a reference to the fact that the truth is eternal.  It will never pass away, or become irrelevant.  It is eternal. And so the truth is with us forever.

But vs 2 also indicates that we can put our complete trust in the truth of God’s word.  God’s word will never fail.  His promises are going to be fulfilled.  We can trust in the truth of God’s word as if our lives depended upon it.  Because our lives do depend upon it. Our eternal destiny depends upon it. And God has written it down so that we might be even more certain of it’s truth, and of it’s fulfillment.

Jesus said in[Matt. 5:18 “For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.” The truth abides with us forever.That gives us confidence as we live our lives here on earth.  God’s word never fails.  

That confidence in the truth of God is saving faith, by the way.  We’ve talked recently about what is involved in saving faith.  How much faith do we need – faith in what exactly – what constitutes saving faith?  Well, saving faith is not a deeply held wish, or even a fervently held belief, but it’s trusting in the word of God.  Trusting in the promises of God.  That’s what it means to believe in Christ for salvation.  Believe what He has promised.  Believe in the promises of God. That’s saving faith. And that’s why knowing the truth is so important. Because we need to believe the truth, what the Bible declares is truth.  Not just what we want to be true or hope is true. But you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

That leads us to the third point that John makes regarding truth, and that is that truth is the source of blessing. Vs. 3, “Grace, mercy and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.”  The blessings are grace, mercy and peace.  Thats a common New Testament benediction used by a number of the apostles. But that doesn’t mean that we should gloss over it.  These are real blessings for the believer that come through God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Son of the Father.  I want to point out that in this statement John presents Jesus Christ as God, as being on the same level with God.  That was one of his major points in the first epistle of John, to establish the deity of Jesus Christ. And John does so here without fanfare or explanation.  But even so it’s a great statement of the deity of Christ. 

Now as to these blessings – grace, mercy and peace.  To the carnal mind they may not seem like too much to be rejoiced over.  We love to talk about how God blessed us with a new job, or a windfall of money, or some new possession that we can enjoy.  But these are spiritual blessings.  And sometimes we tend not to think of them quite so highly as we ought.  But let me remind you that grace is the means by which you were saved.  It’s not by your own merit, but by the gift of God that you were made righteous and declared holy unto the Lord. There is no other means by which we are saved than by grace. Grace is a gift of God, and as such a great blessing.

Mercy speaks of not getting what we deserve.  Grace is getting what we don’t deserve, which is life, which is righteousness, which is an inheritance in heaven.  But mercy is not getting what we do deserve, which is death. The wages of sin is death, and we are all sinners. Christ paid our debt to sin, so that we might be free. Mercy speaks of forgiveness.  Forgiveness is a great blessing.

And then peace.  Peace means peace with God.  We who were enemies are now made His friends.  Even more than friends, we are adopted into His family.  We have peace with God.  He is on our side.  He is not against us, but God is for us.  Peace with God, a very great blessing. And John says these blessings come through the Father and the Son, “in truth and love.”  These blessings could only be realized as we come to know the truth of the gospel.  Only as we worship God in spirit and in truth, can we realize these blessings of salvation.

And love speaks of the great love which the Father had for us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  This is love, that Christ died for sinners so that they might be forgiven and receive life in Him. That is the truth about the love of God for us, which makes all the blessings of God possible. 

The final point is found in vs 4. We said that truth unites us, indwells us and blesses us. Truth also controls us. “I was very glad to find some of your children walking in truth, just as we have received commandment to do from the Father.” Now we are taking it to mean that in this church John found some of them walking in the truth. To walk in the truth is to be obedient to what God says in His word.  It means the same thing as walking in the Spirit, being guided by the Spirit. To walk in the truth means that you are obedient to the truth shown by the Spirit, and then you continue to be obedient as He reveals more truth. It’s continuing in the truth.

Notice John says to walk in the truth is the commandment from the Father. It simply refers to the idea of a believer who confesses the truth of God’s word and then lives in harmony with that word. Everything he says or does portrays a life that is governed by God’s truth.  To walk indicates action, it indicates application.  It means living out what you have been shown to be true.

But notice what did John say he found? Some of your children walking in truth. That’s probably a universal appraisal of the church.  Unfortunately, not all who believe are walking in the truth.  Some people in the church are sporadic walkers at best. They walk for a while and then they get distracted.  They become interested in something else that distracts them from their devotion to the Lord. Or some may have been walking at some point, but they no longer walk in the truth.

I’d guess that in the life of the church, about only half of the people at any given time are actively walking in the truth.  I think lethargy, and laziness, and complacency are more the order of the day for a lot of people.  And that should be a scary place to be.  It’s kind of like working out, trying to stay in shape.  You have good intentions, you start off on some new program, and you’re all gun ho for a while.  Then you start getting distracted.  You start making excuses why you don’t need to work out today.  And before you know it, you’re out of shape again.  And that makes it twice as hard to get back into shape, doesn’t it? It’s harder than ever to get back in the routine of going to the gym, and the workouts seem so strenuous that you end up giving up. 

That’s what happens when we stop actively pursuing our walk in the truth.  When we stop coming to church on a regular basis.  We start skipping devotions.  We make excuses why we can’t go to Bible study or attend some special event at church. And sooner or later, without realizing it, we are backslidden.  We have abandoned the truth for a lie.  We think we can live without abiding in Him, without walking with Him, without walking in the truth.  We fall for the lie of the devil. 

John said I was happy to see some of your children walking in the truth.  Any pastor, any elder of the church is  happy to see his people walking in the truth.  Because  they know when a person stops walking in the truth, it’s like walking down hill.  You find it easy at first, and then you start picking up speed, and then before you know it, you’re falling head over heals, and end up bruised and broken.

 I urge you today to examine your walk in light of the truth which we have been preaching today, and see if you are abiding in the truth, and the truth is abiding in you.  If it is not, then I urge you to call on the Lord to forgive you, to restore a right spirit within you, and cleanse you from all unrighteousness, so that you might be brought back into fellowship  with Him. 

Epilogue, part two, 1 John 5: 18-21

We have finally come to the last message in the book of 1st John. I’m a little saddened by that. John has a unique style of writing, and a particular message which is absolutely essential to the Christian life. His whole epistle is a series of dogmatic declarations concerning how we may know that we have eternal life. And that theme is summarized here in these last verses by a series of doctrines which he says enables us to know that we are born of God.

The theme of the entire letter was summarized in vs 13, which says, “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.” We can know that we have eternal life, by faith in, by believing in the name of the Son of God. To believe in the name means that we believe in the entire ministry of Jesus Christ; that He is the Messiah, the incarnate Son of God, who came to earth to live without sin in order to be our Savior, who died for our sins upon the cross, so that we might have our sins forgiven, and be given His righteousness, and be born again of His Spirit who lives in us. That is what it means to believe in the name of Jesus.

Then John said that another way we know that we are born of God, is that He hears us when we pray, and He answers our prayers that are in accordance with His will. Being the children of God is evidenced by the fact that our Father listens to our prayers and answers them. That’s a particular privilege of being a child of God. The unsaved person does not have that assurance.

Now as we come in our message today to verse 18, John gives us yet another assurance, another principle by which we can know that we have eternal life. He says in vs18 “We know that no one who is born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him.” Greek scholars tell us that the proper translation of the word “sins” is to read it as continues in, or practices sin. John isn’t saying that a Christian never sins. He said back in chapter 1 vs 8 “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.”

So the point is not that we never sin, but that he who is born of God does not continue in sin. He doesn’t practice sin any longer. Sin no longer has dominion over him. He is not under the power of sin. Jesus died on the cross not only to purchase our pardon for the penalty of sin, but also to deliver us from the power of sin over us. In our natural state we were enslaved to sin, but in our new life we are set free from sin. So we no longer practice sin. As John said previously in chapter 3 vs 9 “No one who is born of God practices sin.”

In other words, the Christian life is incompatible with sin. A Christian has been given a new nature, the nature of the Spirit within him, and so he practices righteousness. He is no longer controlled by sin. As one theologian said, “A child of God may sin, but his normal condition is one of resistance to sin.” So we can know we are born of God because we have a new nature that does not practice sin any longer.

Now that is true because of the next phrase in vs 18, because as John says “He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him.” He who was born or literally, begotten of God keeps him. John is speaking of Jesus Christ as the One who keeps the person who is born of God. Jesus prayed on the night before His crucifixion, in the gospel of John 17:12, 15 “While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled. … 15 “I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil [one.]”

So the Lord Jesus, the good Shepherd of the sheep, keeps His flock, and protects them from the evil one. The evil one is, of course, Satan. How does Christ keep us? What does that mean? It means that He keeps us from falling from grace. Jude says, in Jude 1:24-25 “Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present [you] faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Savior, [be] glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.”

Jesus said in John 10:28-30 “and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given [them] to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch [them] out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” So you have a double guarantee that no one, not even the evil one, can snatch them out of the hand of God. Jesus keeps those who are His.

Jesus keeps us from the evil one. Satan cannot touch us without God’s permission. We need not fear the devil because greater is He that is in us, than he that is in the world. Now for those of us studying Job on Wednesday nights, we know that God did give permission to Satan to touch Job, but God did not allow the devil to take his life. Satan had said to God, “Have You not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side?” That is, I believe, the normal situation for the one who is born of God. God has a hedge of protection around us. Satan cannot touch him. He has to get permission.

You might remember that Jesus speaking to Peter said that Satan has demanded permission to sift him like wheat. And on that occasion God obviously gave the devil permission to tempt Peter. And Peter gave into that temptation and denied knowing Christ. But even though Peter fell, yet Christ sustained him. He kept him and came to him after His resurrection and restored Peter to full fellowship.

So Christ keeps us from the controlling power of sin, and the condemnation of sin, so that we who are born of God cannot continue in sin. We know that we are safe in the arms of Jesus from all attacks of Satan to try to take us from our position as a child of God.

John then states another thing we can know in vs 19, that we can be assured of. Vs19 “We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in [the power of] the evil one.” John repeats a similar statement that he made back in chapter 3 vs 2, “Beloved, now we are children of God.” We have been given new life from God, born of His Spirit, so that we are now the children of God. We belong to His family. We belong to the kingdom of God. Such a tremendous privilege we have, to not only belong to the kingdom, but to be the children of the King. And we know that God is sovereign over all the affairs of men. We have the power and authority backing us of the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords and we are His representatives on earth. We belong to Christ.

But John contrasts our security in Christ with the fact that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. The world speaks of the opposing kingdom. The kingdom of this world, whose ruler is the evil one, Satan. Don’t misunderstand something, Satan does have a certain amount of power and authority. But its not equal to the power and authority of God. God has allowed him a degree of power and authority over the world for a limited time and in a limited capacity.

If you remember when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness by the devil, the scripture says the devil took Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment’s time. And the devil said to Him, “I will give You all this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore if You worship before me, it shall all be Yours.”
Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD AND SERVE HIM ONLY.’”

Notice that Jesus didn’t rebuke the devil for lying when he said that the kingdoms of this world had been handed over to him. I think that is true. But Jesus, as the Son of God, knew that it was God who gave him that authority, and that the devil’s dominion was only for a short time. Jesus said in another place that the devil is the ruler of this world, but that one day he would be cast out. Paul in 2 Cor. 4:4 calls him the god of this world. From the account of Genesis 3, we know that by deception Satan took control over this world. So the whole world lies in his power. But Satan knows that his time is short before Jesus comes back to claim this world and vanquish him forever.

The world worships the devil, though they may not realize it. They bow before the idols that he has set up in the world system which seek to captivate people by empty promises of peace and prosperity and happiness. The devil has so orchestrated the course of this world as to take advantage of man by lies and deceit and enslave him to trying to find in satisfying the lusts of this world. And as such it is what the Bible calls the dominion of darkness. It’s populated by people who are attracted by the bright lights of this world, but the result is that they are blind and they cannot see that the real light of the world is Jesus.

But we are the children of God, and we belong to the kingdom of light. Paul said in Colossians 1:13-14 “For [God] rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

That leads us to the third thing that we know. Look at vs 20; “And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.” This is the last time John writes, “we know.” I think there are 33 references to the word “know” in this little epistle.

This time, however, John wants to remind us that God became incarnate, became flesh, and dwelt among us that we might know God. God revealed Himself in Jesus Christ. Hebrews 1:1 says that “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.”

We could not know God unless God revealed Himself to us. And John and the other apostles teach that God revealed Himself perfectly in Jesus Christ. He is the radiance of God’s glory, and the exact representation of His power. If you want to know what God is like, then look at Jesus. As Jesus said to Philip, “If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.”

But in contrast, Satan doesn’t reveal himself as he really is, does he? He is a liar, and the father of lies. The Bible says he masquerades as an angel of light. He pretends. He deceives. But Jesus is the truth. And John says that He has given us understanding. How does that work? I will tell you how. It is through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is our teacher. Back in chapter 2, John told us that the anointing, that is the Spirit, teaches us the truth. He says in vs 27 “As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.”

You know, there are a lot of misunderstandings concerning the Holy Spirit that are being taught in some of the churches out there. A lot of them teach that the purpose of the Spirit is to give us a feeling, an experience, by which we can validate our Christianity. And as a result they only seem to be concerned with the showy gifts of the Spirit.

But Jesus said that the Spirit’s primary purpose was to glorify Him. He said in John 16:13-14 “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose [it] to you.” So the Spirit’s primary function is to reveal the truth to us, and help us to understand the truth of Christ. The Spirit of God has inspired the word of God, so that we might know the truth. And then He gives understanding to the child of God, that they might grow in the knowledge of the truth.

John says that in addition to learning to know God, “we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ.” In other words, we have fellowship with Him through His Son Jesus Christ. We abide in Him, and He abides in us. As Jesus prayed in the upper room before His crucifixion, John 17:20-21 “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, [are] in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.”

Now practically, how do we experience this oneness with Christ? I believe it’s by the word of God and the Holy Spirit. We read the word, study the word, believe the word, and act in accordance with the word. And the Spirit of God in us helps us to understand the word, and to obey the word. That’s what it means to abide in Him, and He in us. To walk where He leads, to walk in the Spirit and by the Spirit. And it’s also how we grow in the knowledge of God. That’s why we place such a premium in this church on reading and studying the word of God. There is no other way by which we can grow in our relationship with God, and grow in maturity in our faith.

Notice in this closing statement, John declares the deity of Jesus Christ. He says “we are in Him who is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.” This is the basis of the gospel, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Without faith that Jesus is God in the flesh, we cannot be saved. He can give eternal life only if He is eternal, if He is immortal, if He is God. There can be no atonement, no forgiveness, if Jesus was not God. Only God can forgive sins. Only God can make atonement for the sins of the world.

The other night at Bible study we had a discussion about what kind of faith do we have to have to be saved. What do we have to believe to be saved? Because the Bible says that the devils believe in God and tremble, yet they are not saved. People in Christ’s day believed that He was a living, breathing person and they saw Him die on the cross, yet they were not all saved. So what constitutes saving faith?

Well, I alluded to the answer earlier when we talked about believing in the name of Jesus. To believe in the name of Jesus is to believe all that His name represents. All that He taught. All that was prophesied of Him and which He fulfilled. We were talking about Job the other night, and what he believed about God, and how little revelation he had received, and yet how deep was his faith.

We have been given tremendous revelation. We have been given 66 books containing God’s word. Job had none. We have been given the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ. He is the greatest revelation. And we have the testimony of many, many eyewitnesses to Him, and practically all that He did and said recorded for us. So we who are given much, much shall be required. But at the very least, to be saved we must believe that Jesus is the Christ, that is the Messiah, the fulfillment of all Old Testament pictures and symbols and prophecy. And that He is the Son of God. That is He is deity. He was in the beginning with God, and He was God.

Then we have to believe in the finished work of Christ in His ministry on earth. That He lived a perfect life, to be our example, and to be our Savior as the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. He came to earth to die for my sins. And by trusting in Him and all that He is, and all that He has done to redeem me, I have forgiveness of my sins, and receive the Spirit of God in me as a deposit on eternal life. We need to believe all that. Because all of that is incorporated in the fact that Jesus is God and eternal life is in Him.

There is one last sentence with which John closes this epistle, and at first glance it may seem out of place. It seems disconnected with all that has previously been said in this passage. But when you think about it, John has been making a contrast between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness. He has been contrasting the kingdom of God’s Son, and the dominion of the evil one.

So now at the close, I believe he is merely extending that contrast by showing that while we worship Christ, the Son of God, the true God, yet the world worships idols, they worship false gods. And so John warns us to stay away from the idols of the world, because they are the means by which Satan controls the world.

Now what is an idol? Do people really bow down to idols today? Do they have little statues on their mantle that they light candles to, and say prayers to? Well, maybe some people do that sort of thing. But I believe most of the idols of the world we live in are a little more subtle than that. The devil is good about disguising his idols so that they don’t look like idols. Idols may look like a career. Idols may look like a savings account. Idols may look like a vacation home. Idols may look like a beautiful woman or a handsome man. Idols may look like sports or entertainment stars, or movie stars.

John lived in Ephesus, one of the worst cities in ancient history in regards to idol worship. There was the temple of Diana which sat on a hill overlooking the city, which employed prostitutes, priests, craftspeople, vendors, and all sorts of officials who promoted worship of the false god Diana. She promised fertility, prosperity and all the carnal pleasures of the world that were attractive to the people. And so John was well familiar with the evils of idol worship.

But today we can worship the false promises of our idols as well as the idols themselves. And the world system that Satan has orchestrated has an idol to fulfill every desire of the flesh and the mind. So we have to guard against that strategy of the devil which seeks to turn our affection away from God, and turn it to this world and the things of the world.

Paul identifies idolatry in Col. 3:5 “Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.” I think he is saying that all of those things amounts to idolatry. Christians are susceptible to idolatry as well as the unsaved. So as Christians, Paul says we must mortify the flesh. Put to death the things of this world. Consider them as dead. And look to that which is life indeed.

But for the unsaved who may be hearing the gospel this morning, who are perhaps worshipping the god of this world, the things of this world, striving to find fulfillment in tangible, temporal things which are passing away, I would like to close by asking you a question from Mark 8;36 which records the words of Jesus saying, “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”

Jesus gave His life so that you might be forgiven for your sins and receive everlasting life. Trust in Him as your Savior and Lord that you might be saved from the system of this world which seeks to keep you in bondage to sin and it’s penalty, which is eternal death. As John said in chapter 5 vs 13 “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.” Turn to Jesus today and receive eternal life.

Epilogue, part one,  1 John 5:13-17

As we enter this last section of chapter 5, John is summing up all that has been said up to this point in what you might call the epilogue.  John’s style of writing is one where he uses repetition to teach us certain doctrines and principles.  And each time he repeats a principle, he usually adds some new dimension to it.  But now that he has reached the conclusion, he makes his final statements regarding these reoccurring themes.

Probably the most frequently repeated principle that John makes is the assurance we can have of our salvation.  Not only has he explained the means by which we might know that we are saved, but he has shown the evidence of salvation, so that we might be fully assured.  And also the other aspect of that was to reveal those who were not really saved, but who may have claimed to be, but they were actually false prophets.

This has really been the central theme of the epistle – how to know that you are saved.  John states this concept of salvation several different ways.  For instance, in chapter one he referred to it as having fellowship with God.  In chapter two he said it was to know God. At the end of the chapter he refers to it as abiding in God.  In chapter three, John refers to salvation as being the children of God, or born of God. In chapter four he says we are from God, or of God.  And in chapter five he calls our salvation the life, or eternal life. All of those terms are used to describe  our salvation and he uses them interchangeably and repeatedly throughout the epistle.  All of them speak of some aspect of our salvation.

The other much repeated principle he teaches frequently is that we may know.  John uses the word know around 33 times in this epistle.  He wants us to have assurance of certain truths, certain principles.  And the most essential principle that he is concerned about is that of our salvation.  He wants us to have assurance of our salvation.  So repeatedly he has given us assurances or evidences or tests that we might know that we are saved.  John believes that we might know that we are children of God, not that we might hope we are, but that we might know it and have any doubts or uncertainty about our eternal life settled here and now.

So now as he concludes this epistle, he says in the 13th verse; “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.”  I have referred to this verse at least a dozen or more times since we started studying this epistle. And yet like John, I realize that repetition is an aid to learning.  And furthermore, some of you may not have been here for some of our previous teaching.  So at the risk of repeating myself, I want to briefly expound on the major points of this verse, for the sake of greater assurance to those who have already heard, and the benefit of those hearing for the first time.

John’s summary statement says he has written these things.  These things refers to the entire letter up to this point.  But the main point that he is making is that faith in Jesus Christ, or to believe in Jesus Christ, is the essential key to the assurance of our salvation.  There is salvation in no one else.  Peter, preaching in Acts 4:12 said, ”And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”

But when the apostles speak of the name of Jesus, they do not mean merely saying the name, or believing that simply repeating the name Jesus has some magical power.  But to believe in the name of Jesus Christ is to believe in the full revelation of the Son of God.  That full revelation then includes His deity, His work, His ministry, His teaching, His word, His work of atonement, His life and death and resurrection and ascension into heaven to sit at the right hand of the throne of God.  All that the gospel teaches concerning Christ is included in the name of Jesus Christ.

So to believe then does not merely mean that we believe that Jesus lived and died 2000 years ago. Or that He was a good teacher, or a rabbi, or a prophet.  But as Peter said in Matt.16:16 in answer to Jesus’s question, “whom do men say that I am?” Peter said, “You are the Christ the Son of the living God.” To believe that He was the Way, the Truth and the Life.  And that the words He spoke were truth and life.  To believe that He bore our sins on the cross and died in our place, that we might receive forgiveness of our sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

That belief is the means by which John says we may know that we have eternal life.  And as I have said almost every week, eternal life is not just life that never ends, but it’s the life of God in us.  It’s spiritual life. It’s fellowship with God.  As the wages of sin is death, so righteousness is life.  And the righteousness we receive from Christ gives a life that will never pass away.  This body will one day pass away, but our soul and spirit will not pass away, and at the resurrection will be joined to a glorified body just as Christ has, an immortal body that will be forever with God. Life with God is eternal life.

And we can be assured of eternal life because of His promise to us.  John said back in chapter 2 vs 25 “This is the promise which He Himself made to us: eternal life.”  Jesus promised eternal life to those who believe in Him.  For instance, Jesus said in John 11:26 “and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”  Jesus promised eternal life, and we can have assurance because of His promise.  God cannot lie.  His word endures forever.  His promises never fail.  And He gives us the Holy Spirit as a deposit on the fullness of that promise.

Now that leads John to assure us of another promise we have from Christ.  And that promise is that He hears us when we pray, and He will answer our prayers.  The fact that God answers our prayers is another assurance by which we know that we have the life of God.  John said back in chapter 3 vs 21 “Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God;  and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.”  Notice John says we have confidence when we ask of God.

So building upon that principle John reassures us of our salvation by the promise that God will answer our prayers.  He says in chapter 5 vs 14 “This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.  And if we know that He hears us [in] whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.”  Notice, John uses the same word, “confidence” in regard to prayer in this verse as he did back in chapter 3 vs 21 which we just read concerning receiving what we ask of God.

What he mens is that because we have eternal life, the life of God in us, we have the confidence, literally, the freedom, to approach the throne of God in prayer at anytime.  I remember a famous photo of the President John F. Kennedy in the Oval Office.  The Oval Office is probably one of the most restricted areas in the world, and yet in this photograph you could see the President’s young son playing under the desk.  That young boy had the privilege of being the President’s child, and so he had unrestricted access to his father.  We have that kind of confidence with our Heavenly Father, to come to Him in prayer at anytime.  That freedom to come in prayer to the Father is an assurance that we are a child of God.

Not only do we have the privilege, we have the freedom to ask for whatever it is that concerns us, because we know that our Father hears us. John says if we ask anything according to His will He hears us.  To hear us, means that He will grant our request.  But notice that there is one caveat.  The caveat is that we ask according to His will.  So this is not a blanket promise that if we ask anything at all, we will get what we ask for.  Many of the false teachers on television teach a name it and claim it type of so called faith that is based on a wrong understanding of this verse and others like it. They teach that if you have enough faith, God is obligated to answer your petitions in the way that you want them answered.  The only condition in their minds, is your faith, or lack of faith.  They teach that if you aren’t healed, or you didn’t get that new job, or whatever,  it’s due to your lack of faith.

But John is clearly saying that the condition for a child of God receiving what you ask for is not faith, but is whether or not it’s God’s will.  Even Jesus, the Son of God, understood that His prayers were contingent upon it being God’s will. When He was in the Garden of Gethsemane, He prayed, “not My will, but Thy will be done.”  And we know that God did not answer His prayer to let the suffering of the cross pass from Him.  So if God didn’t answer even Jesus’s prayer, then we should know that God will not answer every prayer we make if it is not according to His will.

Jesus, when He taught the disciples to pray,  said pray in this way, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”  The Father knows what is best, not us.  We often pray not knowing what God’s will is.  We cannot possibly know what God’s will is in every situation.  So as much as possible, we study the word of God that we might know the will of God, and then we can know how to pray in accordance with His will.  But there are some things we can’t always discern from scripture as to whether or not it’s God’s will.  So we pray anyhow, “if it be your will, then grant me this thing.” And then we need to be satisfied with the answer that we get.  

Not every prayer that we pray receives the response that we want. So we should be ready to accept a negative answer and understand that God knows that which is good for us and good for the kingdom of God, much more than we do with our limited understanding.  Even what sometimes seems to us to be not so good in the short run, may be good for the purposes of the  kingdom of God from an eternal perspective.  And that also means that timing is God’s prerogative.  God will answer us in His timing.  So we need to be content not only with His answer, but with His timing. 

Now having said that, I don’t want to negate the confidence that we are to have in regards to our prayers being answered.  The principle is that a further assurance of our salvation is that we have our prayers answered.  So God wants to answer our prayers.  The problem usually  isn’t that God doesn’t want to answer them, but the problem is our prayers are asking for the wrong kind of things.  We aren’t asking for things to advance the kingdom of God, to further the purpose and will of God, but instead we are asking for things to satisfy our selfish pleasures.  James said in James 4:3 “You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend [it] on your pleasures.”  He says in that passage that we are too consumed with the lusts of the world, rather than being concerned about the kingdom of God, and so our prayers are not answered because they are not things concerning the purposes of God.

So we are not to pray just for our personal needs or desires, but we should pray for the kingdom of God.  And one of the things we should be concerned about is the spiritual life of our brothers and sisters in the Lord.  That’s been a prime subject of John throughout most of this book, that we should love one another.  And there is hardly any measure of love greater than to pray for one another.  To pray for one another is an act of love.  

John then says that as members of the family of God, we should pray for one another.  And especially we should pray when we see a brother or sister committing a sin. So he gives specific instructions to that regard in vs 16; “If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not [leading] to death, he shall ask and [God] will for him give life to those who commit sin not [leading] to death. There is a sin [leading] to death; I do not say that he should make request for this.”

John has had much to say on the subject of sin in this epistle. He has spoken of it in every chapter. He’s made it clear that sin and the life of Christ are not compatible.  Sin has to be dealt with, it has to be confessed, we need to be cleansed from sin. John said in chapter 1 vs 9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  

But there will be times when a Christian, who is known by the fact that he doesn’t practice sin, does indeed fall into some sin.  John says in the verse immediately following 1:9 that “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.”  But there is a way to deal with sin in the life of a Christian, and that is to confess it, and be cleansed from it. 

But John speaks here of a sin which is practiced, which is not confessed, which is held onto, which is cherished, which is rebellion against God.  And he speaks in that context of a sin unto death. Now understand that he is not talking about the so called “unpardonable sin.” That’s a different subject for a different sermon.  But he’s speaking of unconfessed sin in the life of a brother. In other words, a Christian who has fallen into sin and refuses to ask for forgiveness. 

Notice first of all we are instructed to pray for a brother that sins.  We often do not know the extent of the sin.  We don’t know the heart of the brother who sins.  We can’t be the judge and jury of someone who has fallen into sin.  Our first instinct should be compassion.  It should be fear.  We should pray for that person who has fallen into sin.  And according to the template for prayer previously given, God will answer our prayers.  John says if he has not sinned a sin unto death then God will give him life.

Now this life that God gives him is not eternal life.  It’s not “the life.”  If this man is a brother, then he already possesses that life from God and that life is eternal.  It cannot pass away.  But what John is referring to is not spiritual life, but his physical life.  John is saying that there is a sin not unto death, and a sin unto death.  There may be a point when God decides to take that person’s life because they continue in persistent, rebellious sin and they are unrepentant. And so we pray that God will give them life.

But in the case where God has decided to take such a person, then John says that it’s not going to do any good for us to pray for that person’s life, because it’s the will of God to take his life. Now for a lot of you here this morning, this is perhaps a shocking, upsetting principle that you would maybe rather not believe is true.  But nevertheless, John is laying out a Biblical principle of how God sometimes deals with erring Christians.

I say it’s Biblical, because there are a number of examples in scripture that we can see God doing that very thing.  The most famous of course is that of Ananias and Sapphira, whom God struck dead in the middle of the church service. Their sin was they lied to the Holy Spirit by claiming to give an offering that they really did not fully give.  They wanted to be seen to be generous and giving, but in fact had lied about how much they had received  for their property. Now that sin of lying about their offering doesn’t seem nearly bad enough in my estimation to be worthy of death.  But I believe God wanted to set an example right at the beginning of the church, that the gifts and the offering given to God are holy unto the Lord. So God took them because He wanted to make the church realize that He was holy and He was not to be lied to. 

The Apostle Paul also referenced a severe punishment leading to death for those who willfully sin against God and do not repent.  He spoke of judgment for coming to the Lord’s Supper with unrepentant sin.  Paul said in 1Cor. 11:29-32 “For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly.  For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. (sleep there is a way of speaking of death for a Christian) But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged.  But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world.”

One last reference I’ll give to that principle is found in the statement of Paul concerning a person in the church who had unrepentant sin.  He said, in 1Cor. 5:5 “[I have decided] to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” In other words, the man was saved, but his flesh was destroyed, yet in his spirit is saved.

I want to stress though what I said when I began this subject, that is that God sometimes brings judgment to the point of death for the unrepentant believer.  I happen to think that for the most part, mercy triumphs over judgment.  Thankfully, God doesn’t always strike dead the Ananias’s and Sapphira’s in the church, but rather, He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.  I think if God struck down Christians every time they sinned, then it would be no time at all till we had no Christians left in the church. 

But I will say that in the wisdom of God, there are times when it seems that His will is to remove a person who is willfully sinning for reasons that we don’t always understand.  One possible reason might be that such a person is putting a stumbling block before to other Christians.  For the protection of the greater church, God might take one away who is being a stumbling block. 

I will say this, by the mercy of God, most of us don’t get what we deserve. You know, there was a time in my life when I was a young man that I had stopped living for the Lord and started living to fulfill the lusts of my flesh.  Over the course of several years, I went further and further from the Lord.  It was not apparent to anyone that I was a Christian, and I will confess that after a few years I started doubting my own salvation.  

I had a close friend that I had gone to Christian high school with.  He had grown up in a Christian household like me.  And like me, he too had gone astray from the Lord.  His name was Ivan.  He was from a wealthy family, I was not.  But otherwise, we were pretty much the same.  He was no worse a sinner than I was. I was no angel.  I remember one night we were driving back from a vacation at the beach, and he began to unburden his soul.  He talked about how guilty he felt about things, and how he sometimes wondered if he was even saved.  I was so far away from God I didn’t feel comfortable even talking to him about it too much.  Eventually, I managed to change the conversation and we talked about how he was going to start a new job in a couple of weeks as an airline pilot, and how cool his new job was going to be. 

That night we each went our own ways. I went back to Atlanta and continued living a life of partying and living in sin. Ivan started his new airline job.  And then a couple of weeks later, I got a phone call from another friend who told me to turn on the television.  There was a new story on tv about a terrible plane crash.  Ivan had been on a training flight at his new job, and for reasons that are still unknown, there was an explosion in mid air and  the entire flight crew were killed in the crash. 

I’ve often wondered if maybe God took Ivan in order to turn me back to the Lord.  I don’t really know. I know that Ivan wasn’t any worse than I was.  But God in His wisdom gave me mercy and yet took my friend. I  believe that tragedy did eventually serve to turn me back to God.  But we don’t always understand God’s ways of accomplishing His purposes.

What John is saying is that when it comes to answered prayer, there are times when God won’t answer our prayers, even when it seems like He should. We have to trust God in such situations, and pray not my will be done, but thine.  And then John reiterates the principle of sin.  He says in vs 17, “All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not [leading] to death.”  And I think that’s the prevailing principle. Yes there will be times, I think rare times, when God will take the life of someone who is persisting in sin.  So there is a sin unto death.  But the prevailing principle is that  all unrighteousness is sin and there is a sin not leading to death. God does’t strike dead everyone that sins. But yet at the same time we recognize that He is able to do so, and He is justified in doing so.

We have a recourse for sin, which does not lead to death, but leads to life.  And that recourse is found in 1 John 1:9 which we quoted earlier.  Let me restate it again in closing;  “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Listen, I can assure you that the prayer of repentance is a prayer that God always answers.  He hears our confession and forgives us, and cleanses our unrighteousness so that we might be restored to full fellowship with Him. 

The testimony of God, 1 John 5:6-12

As the Apostle John is bringing his epistle to a close he is bringing to a conclusion various streams of arguments that he has made concerning how you may know that you have eternal life. The purpose of this epistle is found in vs 13, “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.” In that statement, John is saying this is how you may know how to be saved, and this is how you may be assured that you are saved, and this is how you may know that others are saved. All three of those elements are expressed in that statement, and have been argued previously in the epistle. Now John is bringing that argument to it’s conclusion.

The means by which John says you may know you have eternal life is believing in Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God. He said in the previous section, in vs 1, that “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.” And in vs11 he said, “Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” To be an overcomer is another aspect of being born of God. They essentially both speak of the same thing, which John also refers to as eternal life. But the means of eternal life is believing.

So what John makes clear, which we have talked about extensively, is that believing in Jesus Christ is not simply believing that a man named Jesus really lived 2000 years ago and He said some great things, He taught about God. But as the titles Messiah and Son of God indicate, it’s believing in who Jesus is, that He is God in the flesh, and as the Messiah He was sent to the world to be our Savior, which He accomplished by taking our place in death as the punishment for our sins, so that we might be given eternal life.

It’s also important to understand what is meant by eternal life. Eternal life does not mean simply a long, long, long life. It’s not even talking necessarily about going to heaven when you die. But it’s speaking of spiritual life from God, which is given to those who have faith in Jesus Christ and what He accomplished, so that they now have the life from God, spiritual life, which is eternal, which is righteous and holy. It’s eternal life, but notice that in vs 12 John just refers to it as “the life”. He says, “He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.” Jesus is the source of the life, which is the life from God. It’s spiritual life, it’s everlasting life, it’s the life of God in us. So we must have the Son of God in order to have the life. We must have received Him, believed in Him, trusted in Him as our Savior. He is the way to life, the only way to life. John wants to make that crystal clear.

So to support the statement that he made which is that we have to believe in Jesus Christ the Son of God, he is going to give us some further evidence that will help us to know all that is involved in believing. And so what he gives us here i this passage is three strains of testimony about who Jesus is. Just like in a court case, when you want to present evidence of something, there is no more powerful evidence than to bring forth testimony from eyewitnesses, or some credible witness who can provide testimony as to the truth of the claim, so John gives three testimonies that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who fulfilled His Messianic ministry on earth, so that we might know that we have eternal life.

John says in vs 6, “This is the One who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.”

Now the statement at first glance may seem a little obscure. But John didn’t deliberately try to be obscure. He wrote it, I’m sure, to be descriptive. To illustrate three ways in which God testifies of Jesus. And by the way, I don’t want to spend too much time on this particular point this morning, but those of you following along in a KJV or NKJV may have noticed that your version adds more to vs 8 than what I read. What the best scholars seem to be in agreement about is that while the extra text in vs 8 is not untrue, at the same time it does not seem to be original to the text. The shortest answer I can give you is that the earliest those words were found in a Greek text was about the 15th century. It seems as though before that it was found in the margin notes of a Latin text, and later was eventually added to the Textus Receptus, which is the manuscript that the KJV was translated from. But the earlier manuscripts do not contain that text. It doesn’t change anything theologically one way or the other, but it’s probably best not to recognize it as inspired. So we won’t read it that way.

But the main point is this; that there are three who testify of Jesus. And we need to understand what John is referring to. So it is believed that when John says that the three testimonies are the water, the blood and the Spirit, he is talking about Christ’s baptism, death, and Pentecost; all of which testify to who Jesus is, and what He accomplished.

If you will recall, the Mosaic law stated that in order to confirm something as true, it was to be on the basis of two or three witnesses.That goes back to Deuteronomy 19:15, that testimony had to be confirmed in the mouth of two or three witnesses. Jesus also emphasized that in Matthew 18 in regards to church discipline, that any charge brought against someone needed to have the affirmation of two or three witnesses. And also in 1 Timothy 5:19 it says that no one should bring an accusation against an elder or pastor in the church unless it’s confirmed by the mouth of two or three witnesses. We see this principle again and again in scripture. And so here God does the same thing in John’s closing argument. Verse 6, “This is the one who came by water and blood and not just water and blood, but” – and then in verse 7 – “it is the Spirit who bears witness.” God Himself has chosen the maximum of three testimonies – from water, blood and Spirit – in this summary to affirm His witness concerning Jesus Christ so that we might be assured of what we believe.

So first of all, let’s talk about the testimony of water. God gave testimony of Jesus Christ at His baptism. And as I said earlier, the testimony is that Jesus is the Christ, that is the Messiah, and that He is the Son of God. Now we find the record of Jesus’s baptism in Matthew 3:13, “Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan, coming to John to be baptized by him.” And then it says in vs16 “After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove [and] lighting on Him, and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”

This event was the beginning of the ministry of Jesus Christ. The scripture says that following His baptism He went about in Galilee in the power of the Holy Spirit. But very clearly here we see that God Himself gives testimony of who Jesus is. And we also see the testimony of the Holy Spirit, coming down out of heaven to rest upon Jesus.

You know, it’s interesting to think about that. We often see pictures that show a dove above Christ’s head or landing upon Him. But it doesn’t say that a dove rested upon Him. But it says that John the Baptist saw the Spirit of God descending upon Him like a dove. In other words, the Spirit of God descended in the manner of a dove. It does not say the Spirit of God was a dove. Notice John doesn’t see a dove, He sees the Spirit of God.

In the gospel of John, I always think it’s an interesting note, chapter 1 verse 32, “And John bore witness saying, ‘I beheld the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven and He remained on Him.’”

“And I didn’t recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’” John had said, “There’s one coming. He’ll baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” So the water has a tremendous testimony of Jesus, that He is the Christ, and the Son of God.

So at the baptism of Jesus, at the beginning of His ministry, we see the testimony of water, with both God speaking and descending in Spirit upon Jesus. And God says clearly that “this is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

But John says there is more. He says, not the water only, but the water and the blood. And as I said previously, the blood speaks of the crucifixion of Christ. We can turn to Matthew 27 for an account of the crucifixion. If you look at the scene of the cross, in verse 44, the robbers have been crucified with Him. They are insulting Him. Then it says, “Now from the sixth hour” –that means twelve o’clock noon. “From the sixth hour, darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour.” For three hours, in the middle of the day there is supernatural darkness. This is a divine miracle. This is God’s testimony concerning the atonement for sin which Jesus was accomplishing. And Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?,” which means ‘My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?’” Jesus understood the symbolism of the darkness was an indication of the wrath of God against sin. God was giving testimony to Jesus Christ His Son as the sin-bearing sacrifice in providing for our atonement.

And there is another testimony given by God in verse 51, “Behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” While Jesus is dying there on the cross, God rips the veil of the temple from top to bottom, which opens up the Holy of Holies, showing that Jesus through His supreme sacrifice has provided access to God, abolishing the system of priests and sacrifices. Can you imagine the shock to the priests and officers and scribes and so forth in the temple seeing this miracle of God just when Jesus is being put to death?

And then it says in verse 51, “And the earth shook” – God sent an earthquake – “and the rocks were split, and the tombs were opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. And coming out of the tombs, after His resurrection, they entered the holy city and appeared to many.” The temple curtain is rent from top to bottom, darkness is over all the land, and an earthquake all at the time of Christ’s crucifixion and the dead were coming out of the tombs. What a tremendous testimony God makes that Jesus Christ was the Son of God that they were crucifying.

So vs 54 says, “Now the centurion and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening, became frightened and said truly this was the Son of God.” Not only did the centurion say it, but those who were with him said it. That’s the logical conclusion for anyone that wasn’t biased against Jesus. But from what we know the priests do not say that. They hold onto their rejection of Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God, despite the supernatural testimony of God.

I think it’s also possible to include in the testimony of the blood, the fulfillment of the scriptures which explicitly prophesied of the crucifixion. For example, in Psalm 22 it says, “All My bones are out of joint. My heart … is melted within Me … My tongue cleaves to My jaws … Dogs have surrounded Me. A band of evil doers has encompassed Me. They pierced My hands and my feet. I can count all My bones. They look, they stare at Me. They divide My garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots.”

We also see the fulfillment of Isaiah 53, which says, “Surely our griefs He Himself bore, our sorrows He carried. Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted.”“He was pierced through for our transgressions.” “By His scourging we are healed.” “The Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.

In vs 9 it even gives the details of His burial. “His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth. And then it speaks of His atonement, the propitiation for our sins. “But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering,
He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.” “As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied;
By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities.”

All of those prophecies and many more in the Old Testament were fulfilled at the death of Jesus Christ. There is no other conclusion than this is the testimony of the Father, fulfilled prophecy, physical phenomena that’s so convincing that a Roman centurion says, “Truly this was the Son of God.”

Then the third testimony of our text in 1 John 5, is the testimony given by the Holy Spirit. John says in verse 6, “It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.” Jesus referred to the Spirit in HIs prayer in the Upper Room before His crucifixion as the Spirit of Truth. The ministry of the Spirit is to reveal the truth about Christ.

And then John says in vs 8, “There are three that bear witness, the Spirit, the water and the blood, and the three are in agreement.” So all three of them are in agreement, testifying to the fact that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God.

Now we have already seen that the Spirit was involved in testifying of Christ at His baptism. He became visible and rested upon Jesus, and in the power of the Holy Spirit Jesus began His ministry. But it’s important to look at how the Holy Spirit testifies of Christ in other situations. I happen to believe that the greatest testimony of the Spirit concerning Christ was at Pentecost. If you look at Acts 2, you will see the disciples waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit which Jesus had told them to wait for.

I said a moment ago that Jesus referred to the Spirt as the Spirit of Truth. Jesus said in John 15:26 “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, [that is] the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me.” Notice that Jesus says He will send the Spirit, and He will testify about Me. He says in another place, He (that is the Spirit) will bring to your remembrance the things that I said to you. So the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to testify of Jesus, and to teach the truth about Jesus.

And that’s exactly what happened at Pentecost. The Spirit of God came just as Jesus said He would, Jesus sent Him to testify of Himself. And when He came, He came with supernatural power; there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them.” That’s the baptism of fire that John the Baptist had said Jesus would baptize with.

“And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.” They spoke other languages, which just happened to be the languages of all the people who were from all different regions of the Roman Empire in Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost, who gathered outside the house when they heard the noise of the wind. And so the disciples came out and started speaking of the mighty works of God and everyone who was there heard them speak in their own language. These disciples were eyewitnesses of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ the Son of God. And over three thousand people heard them speaking by the power of the Holy Spirit in their native language so that they might believe in the Lord Jesus and be saved.

Peter, taking his stand before the multitude, filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, preached a message to them boldly declaring that this Jesus whom they had crucified was the Messiah, the Son of God. And he concluded his message in vs 36 saying, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ–this Jesus whom you crucified.” And as a result three thousand people hearing that testimony believed in Jesus Christ and were saved that day.

So then, we have seen that God then gave His testimony in the water, the blood and the Spirit. The question then remains, “Why did He give it?” We find the answer in verse 11 – the purpose for God’s testimony. “The testimony is this, that on the basis of Jesus’s atonement for sin, God has given us eternal life and this life is in His Son.” The reason that God gives this testimony is because God has given us eternal life and this life is in His Son. The only way to have eternal life is through believing in what Jesus Christ accomplished for us.

Notice John says, “This life is in His Son.” There is no salvation in any other. There’s no other name under heaven given among men whereby you might be saved. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by Me.” God’s desire for us is that we have life. But the only way to have the life of God is in believing in Jesus Christ. and in His finished work of atonement.

So then, what should be our response to God’s witness? We find the answer in verse 10, and then verse 12. What should be our response? Verse 10, “The one who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself. The one who does not believe God has made Him a liar because he has not believed in the witness that God has borne concerning His Son.”

When we believe in Christ, when we are saved, we receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. So in us is the testimony that Jesus is the Christ. We receive the testimony, we believe it. John 1:12 says “As many as received Him to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name.” And I can assure you that when you receive the Lord Jesus as your Savior, then your eyes become opened, your heart becomes opened, and you know in your heart that which is true, that you have new life. You have the testimony in your own heart of the truth and the life.

But on the other hand, verse 10 says, “The one who does not believe God has made Him a liar because he has not believe the testimony that God has borne concerning His Son.” So if you don’t believe God’s testimony, you’ve made Him a liar. You are calling God a liar. How is it that you have made God a liar? “Because he has not believed in the witness that God has borne concerning His Son.”

The testimony of God concerning Jesus is supernatural, powerfully convincing testimony. The Holy Spirit also attests to that testimony in your heart by convicting you of it’s truth. But there are some who will refuse to believe, because like the priests who put Jesus to death, they do not want this man to rule over them. They don’t want to submit to God. They like their sin and don’t want to repent of it. And so they refuse the atonement which Christ died to accomplish.

John then in vs 12, restates the positive conclusion from all that has been said. We have already discussed it in detail. He is just restating it for emphasis. “He who has the Son has the life. He who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.” Salvation is so simple that it sometimes seems like there has to be more. And there is more to our salvation as we grow in the Lord. But to be born of God, it must begin with faith in Jesus Christ. We cannot have the life of God until we believe in the giver of life, Jesus Christ.

Peter in his sermon on the day of Pentecost, concluded his message with this word, and I will conclude my message with it as well; Acts 2:38-39 Peter [said] to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” You have heard the testimony of God today concerning Christ Jesus. God is calling you to believe in Him that you may receive the life.