Join us for a faith-enriching exploration of 2 John as we uncover the complex interplay of love and truth as cornerstones of Christianity. Through Dr. McGee’s insightful narrative, this episode navigates the multifaceted question of love, urging believers to turn their faith into action. By walking in His commandments, we bear witness to the profound relationship between truth and love, crafting a life that genuinely reflects the gospel. With earnest discussions on the significance of the resurrection and gospel, we delve into their critical roles in affirming faith. The conversation is rich with clarifications of complex theological ideas, making
How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith.
SPEAKER 01 :
What is love? This simple yet complex question has inspired poets, artists, philosophers, and novelists since the beginning of time. Ask a hundred people and you’ll likely get a hundred different answers from every angle, relationships, literature, philosophy, science, and faith. It seems everyone has a different answer. Welcome to Through the Bible. We’re continuing our five-year journey through the whole Word of God, studying 2 John, a tiny book that focuses on this huge question, what is love? And then gives us examples of real love in action. You know, Dr. McGee calls this sidewalk salvation, showing your love for God as you walk in His Word. Find your place in 2 John, beginning at verse 6, and as you do that, here’s another special introduction by Dr. McGee.
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He says, “‘Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye received, and in which ye stand, and which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.'” For I delivered unto you first of all, which I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. Now, that is the gospel, the gospel stated in historical terms. Now, Paul dwells upon the resurrection in the remainder of that 15th chapter, and he puts a great emphasis on it, which we’re going to do in one of these studies that we’re going to have together here. In verse 17, he makes it very clear. He says, but and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain. You’re yet in your sins. So that the resurrection is all important. It’s the great fact of the gospel. He was delivered for our offenses. He was raised for our justification. That is, he was raised in order that you and I might have a righteousness to stand before Almighty God. Paul says he’s been made unto us righteousness. Now there are two great pillars of Christianity that hold up the great arch of the gospel. First is that death of Christ on one side and on the other the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. These two pillars are what the church rests upon today and what the gospel rests upon and our hope rests upon these. Now our contact with these two facts or by faith, not just the historical assurance of these things, but the faith in the purpose and reason for his dying. And it’s very personal. Paul says in 1 Timothy 1.15, he died for me. And he says, I was the chief of sinners. May I say to you, you couldn’t have it any more personal than that. Now, we’re going to see next time why it was necessary for Christ to die. And we are told that we become today children of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. What will make you a child of God? The thing that will make you a child of God is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. trusting him. It’s like the story we told of Bandini. He said to the little boy when he was walking the wire across a section of Niagara Falls, he said, come up here, son, I’ll take you on my back across. And the little fellow shook his head. Well, he says, don’t you think I can do it? And the little boy says, I believe you can do it, but I don’t trust you. And I’m afraid a lot of people have not yet put their faith and confidence In the Lord Jesus is the one who is our sin bearer. He is our mercy seat today.
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Let’s come to that mercy seat as we pray. Father, thank you for providing your son as our sin bearer so that we can approach your throne of grace with confidence. We put our full confidence in you. Bless your word as it’s delivered around the world and in our homes. In Jesus’ name, amen. Now here’s our study in 2 John on Through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.
SPEAKER 03 :
Now, I come here to 2 John again, and I begin at the sixth verse. And I must remind you of this again today because it is important to keep before us in this epistle. The polarity of the Christian faith and the Christian life is truth and love. Now, it is true that for the believer, it’s faith hope, and love. And those are very important. But the objective polarity of the Christian faith today is truth and love. Now, John, in his first epistle, emphasized love. But he also said that that love is for the brethren. It’s for believers. It’s for those that are in Christ. My little children, he says, I want you to love one another. That’s believers now. And this idea of watering down the Christian faith today. and saying that you’re to love everybody. I just don’t quite understand that myself, because I know that when you make a statement like that, you don’t love everybody. It’s just impossible to do that. There are too many in this world that are unlovely. A lot of us are, and as a result, why we are not loved. But as we said last time, God loves the world. He loves all of us, and we’re not worth loving. But God loves us. And the important thing is that he says for you and me to take the gospel to them. And that’s the way you and I can show our concern and love, if you want to call it that. But we’re to take the gospel because God loves them. Then if we take it, I think in our hearts, as it was in the heart of Jonah, a love will be begotten for those that actually are enemies. But the important thing to see is that God is love. It’s His attribute. And His love has provided a Savior for us. And that is important to keep before us. But truth is also very important. And you cannot put love above truth. Because when you do, then you’ve sacrificed truth. And John is emphasizing that. Now, here in verse 6, He makes this statement, and this is love, that we walk after his commandments. Now, what is love? Well, it’s to walk after his commandments. The Lord Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments. This is another way of saying actually the same thing. Now, his commandments are more than the Ten Commandments. By all means, we should understand that. The Ten Commandments are basic to government and basic to civilization. But the Christian is called to a higher plane where he’s to produce in his life by the Spirit because it’s a fruit of the Spirit. It’s love, joy, peace, long-suffering. Now, if these things are in us and abide in us, then you and I are walking after his commandments. Now, if they’re not in us, we’re not walking after his commandments. And this is love. Love is, again, let me say it, is not made in the parlor. It’s made in the kitchen. It’s not made in the bedroom. It’s made out there in the washroom. Does she wash his clothes? Does he bring home his paycheck? Does he support his family? That’s the way that you express love in the family. And that’s the way that you express love in the church, your concern, your help for others. And you can’t say that you’re loving anyone unless you have a concern for them, and especially a concern for their spiritual welfare. And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. Now, this is getting it right down in shoe leather. This is getting right down where the rubber meets the road, by the way. This is sidewalk salvation. It’s that that can walk down the street. Now, you must recall that these men, like John, and Paul are writing to people who lived in the Roman world. And in Paul’s day, it was bloody Nero. And in John’s day, for he saw one emperor after another rise that persecuted Christians. beginning with Titus, and the persecution was severe. And yet here are men and women in that Roman world, a brutal world, a cruel world, a world that was pagan to the core. And yet here are men and women that are walking down Roman road. living in pagan cities of that day, and they’re doing what? They’re walking after his commandments. They are translating the gospel into life. That is the thing that is desperately needed today. And I read the letter of this dear woman married to an unsaved man, and now a pastor that is actually unsaved, attempting to counsel them. a case of the blind leading the blind. Now, will you notice, this is the commandment, that as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it. John said, this thing is not to be put on ice. It’s not something to be stored in the shelf. He says, you heard this from the beginning. The Lord Jesus taught this. Now he’s saying, we heard it from the beginning, and now let’s get busy and walk in it. Let’s manifest this to those outside. But now again, there rises before us the other end of this polarization. Love is on one side, but truth is on the other. Now he issues his warning. And will you listen to him? He says, For many deceivers are entered into the world who confess not that Jesus Christ cometh in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. And actually, the word is deceiver. the Antichrist. Now, you will recall that John said in his first epistle that already there were many Antichrists, and there was the spirit of Antichrist. Now, what is the spirit of Antichrist? How do we identify it? And I’m repeating now what we’ve said before, but this is so important that we need to repeat it, and it concerns the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. who confess not that Jesus Christ cometh in the flesh. Now, it’s to deny the deity of Christ. It is to deny, therefore, everything that is said about him, everything that he said, and everything that he did for us in redemption by dying on the cross. by being raised bodily from the dead. That is Antichrist. That is the spirit of Antichrist. Now, that eventually will be headed up by, I believe, not one man, but two men. For two are in the 13th of Revelation, and we’ll see that when we get to it. That one of those is a great political ruler, an enemy of Christ. He’s against Christ. The other one will be a religious ruler who will imitate Christ and cause the world to worship the first beast, that is, to worship the political ruler. Now, that is coming in the future. And everything this side of it’s preparing the way for the coming of that one. So much so that when the political ruler finally appears and the religious ruler, the world will be ready for them. And it looks to me like it’s almost ready for them today. To begin with, the political ruler will promise peace in the world. And for three and a half years, he’s going to do a pretty good job of it. But it’s not permanent. It’s building up to a mighty catastrophe that ushers in or is ushered in by the war of Armageddon. And that will last for approximately three and a half years until the coming of Christ to the earth to establish his kingdom. And there will be one religion. And certainly we’re moving in that direction today. A world religion where they all will pool their thinking. And we actually believe that it’s going to be a religion that doesn’t really believe anything. In other words, there will be nothing to hold them together. We hear so much today, let’s get rid of that which separates us. Well, my friend, if you get rid of all that separates us, there won’t be anything left to hold us together. That is the problem. It’s like the story of the Little boy that was walking down the jungle trail in Africa, and he was carrying a polka dot umbrella, and he met an elephant. The elephant said to him, where are you going, little boy? And he said, well, I’m not going anywhere. And the elephant says, well, I’m not either. Let me go with you. And that’s the kind of a church union that’s coming about today. They’re going nowhere. They believe nothing. Therefore, they can all get together. And may I say to you that that is the deceiver. that is finally going to come that will head up religion. One to head up religion, one to head up the politics of this world. And that is the Antichrist when he comes. Now, John says already in his day, there were many deceivers that had gone out. Now, Gnosticism in John’s day was running rife, actually, because everywhere the gospel is gone, always the cults follow, and the schisms and the isms always follow the preaching of the gospel. They never go before. And so there was coming along now quite a few of what was known as the Gnostic sect, and they were divided into many groups. There was the group that was known as the Serenthian Gnostics. And they followed a teacher over in Ephesus by the name of Serenthus. And there is a tradition that John went down to the public bath there. He was a pastor there. And he saw old Cyrenthus in taking a bath also. So he got out of the pool, grabbed up his clothes, didn’t put them on until he got outside because he wouldn’t have anything to do with that heretic. Well, that’s a tradition. It may or may not be true, but it certainly expresses the viewpoint of John in this letter here. Now, the Cyrenthian Gnostics They correspond to several of the cults today. They taught that Jesus and Christ actually were two entities altogether, and that the divine came upon Jesus at his baptism and left him at the cross. Well, then there was the docetic Gnostics. They actually denied the reality of the physical body. And they said that the apostles thought they saw Jesus, but actually he was not a real person at all. It was just an appearance. And we’ve got a few cults that will pick up that heresy also. And that’s the reason John, in the first epistle, says we’ve seen him, we’ve heard him, we’ve gazed upon him, we’ve handled him. We know what we’re talking about. He was a real man, if you please. Then there were certain Jewish sects in that day. And when Christianity came along, why, they picked up a great deal of the Christian teachings, the Essenes. Now, they were the ones where they found the, down at Qumran, they found the Dead Sea Scrolls. Well, that evidently were a group of Essenes down there. And then at Masada, that fell in 73 AD, three years after Jerusalem fell. Well, about 967 Zealots went there. Now, they had picked up also some of the teaching of Christ, and they had twisted, distorted, and warped conceptions of the person of Christ. Now, the thing that John is saying here, and it’s all important today, and it’s this, that there are many deceivers that have entered into the world. And they’ve sort of centered here in Southern California. This is a place where we incubate them. This is a great incubation center for all kinds of false teachings. I used to say when I was introduced around across the country, I come from the land of flowers, fruits, and nuts, mostly religious nuts. But I hope that the folk wouldn’t think I was one of them, and I certainly hope that you don’t think so. However, apparently there are folk who think that I am. But that’s beside the point. The important thing here is this, that The way you tell the one that is true is his viewpoint, his teaching, his belief concerning the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, unless you think rightly of him, my friend, everything else goes down the tube. And that person is a false teacher. Now, that does not mean that a person that maybe holds different views than maybe you and I would hold on election. That’s been a debatable point. John Wesley… taught one thing. John Calvin taught another. You point on that. But both of those men believed in the deity of Christ. And when you believe in the deity of Christ, it means you believe in the virgin birth of Christ and the count of the virgin birth. It means you believe in the record that we have. It means you believe in the apostles’ doctrine that they taught in their epistles. Now, there can be a difference of opinion about election. These two men, but neither one of them was a false teacher because both of them agreed on that. And then there are those today that believe a little differently about the work of the Holy Spirit. And I find that I… violently disagree with some man. I have a Pentecostal friend that he and I have played golf together. I consider him a real brother. I have preached in his church. But that man exalts the deity of Christ. And he preaches salvation by faith in the redemptive work of Christ on the cross. And I say amen to it. Now, he and I disagree on some other thing, but we haven’t found it necessary to club each other. to beat each other over the head. The important thing is your belief concerning the person of Jesus Christ. And that’s the way you tell whether one is a deceiver. Now, in a letter, this woman is going, even being counseled, because her husband apparently won’t go to any other, by a preacher that she says is not a born-again believer. Well, we know what he believes about the person of Christ. He’s an antichrist. And personally, I would say we’re to have no fellowship with folk like that at all. We have nothing in common with them at all. Now, we’re going to come down a little later to something on that. And let me just use one other illustration in this connection. I went to my denominational seminary. I’m a graduate there, as well as having done graduate work at Dallas Theological Seminary, and I got my master’s and doctor’s degree there. But I graduated, my B.D. degree came from my denominational seminary. Now, that school was all millennial. They were dead set against the premillennial position. And fact of the matter is, one of the professors there, he and I became very good friends. I admired him a great deal. He was an intellectual. And that man, he could exalt the person of Christ. And he could defend the virgin birth and the blood redemption and the bodily resurrection in a way that I’ve heard no other person. And I have actually sat in his class with tears coming down my eyes as I heard him exalt Christ, which, you know, he just hated. premillennialism. He didn’t hate me. He and I were good friends. But I never felt that we ought to separate or that I ought to break fellowship with him because of the fact that he exalted Christ. He’s no Antichrist. He’s a believer. And I can’t help it. He’s an intellectual, of course. And even they are wrong in some things. And so I just took it for granted he was wrong in that particular sphere. And I’m sure someday that he and I, when we get to heaven, are going to be in agreement. And it may be both of us are going to have to change a little relative to, I believe, concerning these secondary matters. And I do consider them secondary when you put it down beside the person of Jesus Christ. Because what do you think of him? him, my friend. That’s all important. Now, John says in verse 8, look to yourselves that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. Now, you don’t lose your salvation when you have fellowship with the wrong foe. I think we need to understand that very carefully. We put ourselves in a dangerous position, but it does mean this. that the minute that you and I identify ourselves with a cult, or we go off into this type of a thing today that denies the deity of Christ, we’ve lost our reward. There will be no reward for a believer that has done a thing like this. And that, I think, is made perfectly clear in this particular passage here. Now, that’s a strong language. But you haven’t heard anything yet. We’ll finish this second epistle next time. And you’re going to find out that John says something here that is so strong that, well, it’s just not being taught today. That’s all. But we’re going to teach it. And next time, we’ll be taking that up. Because you and I are living in another day. That’s a dangerous day to live in. And it’s easy to be taken in today if you’re not acquainted with the Word of God and if you do not know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. So until next time, may God richly bless you, my beloved.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yes, we live in a very dangerous world, don’t we? And that’s one reason why we take this mission of teaching the whole Word of God so seriously. We want to protect those who put their faith in Jesus Christ with the whole armor of God, so that you’re able to withstand false teaching by knowing the truth of God’s Word yourself. To listen to this message again, share it with a friend, or catch up on any that you may have missed, you can download our app or visit ttb.org. And that’s also where you can find many other resources from Dr. McGee, some for purchase, but most for free download. Our hope is that you’ll be well equipped for the battles ahead. armed with a solid understanding of what God teaches us in His Word. Again, you can find us at ttb.org. And if you’d like to be in touch by phone, 1-800-65-BIBLE is the number. That’s 1-800-652-4253. Well, I’m Steve Schwetz, as always, praying that you’re blessed as you walk with the Lord in spirit and in truth.
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All to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow.
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Through the Bible is a five-year study of God’s entire word, and together we discover God’s purposes in history and our lives, found only when we believe in Jesus Christ. Do you know him yet?
