From the manger to the cross, rugged cross of cavalry, the road that Jesus walked for you and me all alone. By the world forsaken still he shed his blood for me. From the manger to the cross, the rugged cross of cavalry, the story in the Bible it's a message that is true. The life our Savior lived on earth is told, found upon the pages of the Master's book of truth. Every word so special, every word so precious to my soul.

From the manger to the cross, rugged cross of cavalry, the road that Jesus walked for you and me all alone. By the world forsaken still he shed his blood for me. From the manger to the cross, the rugged cross of cavalry, no earthly treasures did he own, he sought no wealth or fame. Weary was the path he had to trod. Here he suffered many things the world knew him not. He died upon the cross, the Son of God.

From the manger to the cross, rugged cross of cavalry, the road that Jesus walked for you and me all alone. By the world forsaken still he shed his blood for me. From the manger to the cross, the rugged cross of cavalry.

Is about how much the study has been edifying for me personally. And as we used to say down south, it's got me to thinking. I've been thinking a lot about the importance of truth. The truth of God's word is kind of falling in popularity in these last days, even in the church. And I see how the decisions and choices of churches and individual believers to compromise or to set aside the truth as first and foremost can have serious consequences in their lives and ministries. 

A choice to de-emphasize the truth or to compromise the truth or to take it off of center stage by way of importance and focus in the church is to lead yourself headlong into deception, to distraction, to despair. The truth must be the foremost thing because it is God's word that tells us the truth about everything in this world, in this life, in my mind, in my emotions, in my heart of hearts. 

My friends, I don't know anything apart from the truth of God's word. I can't see clearly. I can't navigate efficiently day to day without the guiding truth of God's revelation to us in this book. I was thinking this week about a man that I knew very well years ago. We used to fish and hunt together, spend a good deal of time together. He was quite a bit older than me and was established in his work and his home. He was a very bright man, a handy guy. 

And when I got saved and I began to witness to him, he was curious at first. But I remember having a conversation with him that really stunned me. I was talking to him about the importance of God's word, His truth concerning the gospel, the sin of man, the need of man, and the gospel of grace. And this man said to me, John, don't you think that we are smart enough to figure out what is right and what is wrong, what is true and what is not? And that was the last discussion we ever had about the gospel. He was not interested. He was smart enough on his own. 

But you know what? That man didn't know anything. He's a fool according to the word of God. Because we are not smart enough, my friends. We are not good enough, strong enough. We simply are not enough. We don't know anything apart from the revelation of God to us by His Holy Spirit through His word. And that is the fact of the matter. And no matter how much I think I have something figured out, no matter how much I think that I know, whenever I start to doubt the truth of God's word or go my own way, I'm in deep trouble. I need to know His word and I need to believe Him. 

When God says that He created this heavens and earth ex nihilo, out of nothing, by His word, in six days, do you believe what He says? Do you really know anything about the origin of this world? I mean, really, what do you know for sure? Have the experts and the scientists and the atheistic humanists of this world ever been wrong about anything else? Like, I wonder if you could tell me, is butter good for me or is it not? Should I eat carbs or should I eat fats? What do you really know? God was there when He created the world and everything in it, and He knows, and He told me exactly how He did it in Genesis. 

God knows what is best for us. He tells us what is best for us, and He tells us the truth. We need to see the world through the mind of Christ, through the truth of His word, and we need to believe and trust what He says. We saw last week that the fruit of this truth, the doctrines of Christ, is agape love. Love is not separate from the truth. It's not divorced from it, but rather dependent on it. We cannot exercise agape, self-sacrificial love, unless we are loving based in truth. 

And I really believe this is the core of the message that John is trying to teach us in these epistles. He repeatedly came back to the themes of love and truth in 1 John, in his letter to the church, and in this personal letter to the chosen lady and her children, he focuses on this message as well. Love and truth. Truth as a basis for love. That's the message. 

Look with me again at verse 5 of 2 John, please. He writes, And now I plead with you, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment to you, but that which we have had from the beginning, that we love one another. This is love. That we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it. 

For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Look to yourselves that we do not lose those things we work for, but that we may receive a full reward. Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him. For he who greets him shares in his evil deeds. Having many things to write to you, I do not wish to do so with paper and ink, but I hope to come to you and speak face to face that our joy may be full. The children of your elect sister greet you. Amen.

I've given you four points on your outline for our text this morning as we finish this second epistle. First, we're going to look briefly at the command. Second, the truth. Third, the application. And fourth, the heart desire of John.

Well, first we see in verses 5 and 6 the familiar command of John, that which we have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. This was Jesus' new commandment to his disciples. In John 13, 34, he said, A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another as I have loved you, that you also love one another. In John 15, 12, he said, This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Verse 17, these things I command you, that you love one another. 

Now John has called this an old commandment. We've had the commandment all the way back through the law to love God and to love one another. But Jesus says this is a new commandment because he's saying I want you to love one another as I have loved you. God's love was manifest, shown to us at the cross. Jesus laid down his life for us. And Jesus says in this way, it's a new commandment. I want you to love each other as I have loved you. 

This is the same agape love, the new commandment, that John majored on in the epistle of 1 John. 1 John 3, 11, For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Verse 23, And this is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another as he gave us commandment. Chapter 4, verse 7, Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Verse 11, Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 

No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and his love has been perfected in us. The commandment, the one we've had from the beginning, is to love one another. Jesus said, Love one another as I have loved you. And did you notice that this command, as John gives it in 1 John, those four times, that it's always tied to doctrine, tied to, based in truth. He says, Let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He says, If God so loved us at the cross, then we also ought to love one another. If we love one another, God abides in us, and his love has been perfected in us. 

John ties the agape love command to truth over and over. The truth doctrine of who Christ is and what he has done and what our salvation means to our new life in Christ. His love has been perfected in us, John says. He abides in us. He lives in us. His love manifest at the cross is the same love poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. God now lives in us. He abides in us. And it is his life that is lived out through us as we abide in him. This is agape love poured out through us as we abide in him, and note this, as his words abide in us, his truth, his doctrine. 

In John 15, 7, Jesus said, If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so you will be my disciples. In John 17, 17, Jesus said, Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth. My friends, it is the truth, known, reckoned, believed, yielded to, that produces fruit, produces agape love in our lives. 

And John tells us at the center of this truth, the absolute, inviolable core of the truth, is the gospel, is the doctrine concerning who Jesus is and what he has done. Look at verse 7 in our text. For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Look to yourselves that we do not lose those things we work for, but that we may receive a full reward. 

He's saying there that if we get taken captive by deceptive teaching, if these deceivers, these teachers who have come into the church, distract us, take us away from the truth, then we will lose reward. We will not produce the fruit that God intends. Look to yourselves, he says. Be discerning. Verse 9, whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. 

Well, first we see in verse 7 that the reason that we must hold fast to the truth, that we must be diligent to have the words of God abiding in us, is because we need to be discerning. We need to know truth from error because many deceivers have gone out into the world. John wants us to realize that there are many, many deceivers in the world and that they are antichrist. Their method, their weapon is error. Error concerning who Jesus is and what he has done. 

This is where they attack, my friends. They undermine the gospel truth. And John's not the only one who is very concerned about this issue in the church. Turn over to Galatians 1 with me, please. Galatians 1, we'll look at the Apostle Paul's warning concerning this. We could also look at Acts 20 where he warned the elders in Ephesus about savage wolves who would come in, false teachers from without and from within who would rise up. 

Galatians 1, verse 6. Paul writes, I marvel that you are turning away so soon from him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel, which is not another. Paul says it's a heteros, it's a different gospel, and then he says it's not another, it's not good news. The word gospel means good news, and he says this other message is not good news. 

But there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel to you than that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As I've said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than that which you have received, let him be accursed. Do I now persuade men or God? What a statement for our time. Do I now persuade men or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ. 

Paul says there are some who trouble you. They want to pervert the gospel of Christ. In the region of Galatia, this was an issue of legalism, wanting to add law and works to grace for salvation. We see this in so many denominations and churches that claim the name of Christ today. Paul says if a man preaches another gospel, one that is works-based or adds works to grace, such as baptism or penance or giving or law-keeping as a means of salvation, then let that man, that church, be cursed. Anathema be upon him. 

In 2 Corinthians 11, Paul talked about ministers of Satan who are in pulpits in so-called Christian churches, who are masquerading as ministers of righteousness. It's not just in the world. It's not just the pagans in the secular world of lies and error. It's in the church. And when Paul and John write, they're talking about in the church. Paul was very clear about how the true church should deal with these false teachers when they bring a different gospel, when they don't bring the doctrine of Christ. 

John is telling this lady in 2 John that this is true for her personally in exercising hospitality to teachers who come to preach or teach in her town or in the body of believers. If they do not bring the truth about who Jesus is, that He is fully God, that He is fully man, that He is the Christ, deity, equal with God, fully God in every way, and also that He took on flesh and became a man, if anyone denies these truths, John says he is anti-Christ. Likewise, if anyone denies the full, complete atonement of Christ for our sins and His one-time death on the cross in our place, if he denies that Jesus' payment satisfied God fully and that the full debt was paid on our behalf, the truth that it is by grace alone, through faith alone, that we can receive the righteousness of God, if anyone denies what Jesus accomplished at the cross and requires more than faith for salvation, then that man is a heretic. 

So what are we to do? What is the church to do? What are individual believers to do in the way of hospitality and fellowship? We must obey the command of love. That's what this lady's ministry was. When preachers and teachers would come, she'd welcome them into her home. She'd give them a place to stay. She'd feed them. She'd assist them. She'd affirm them in the church. My friends, that love must be based on and be in concert with the truth of the gospel, who Jesus is and what He has done. And we must beware of deceivers and apply this truth test to their teaching. 

If a man brings another message, if he does not bring the clear, whole truth concerning Jesus and the gospel, then we must apply John's exhortation in verses 10 to 11. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him. For he who greets him shares in his evil deeds. Now these verses are insightful, my brothers and sisters. What is the application we are to make based on the commandment to love and the exhortation to be discerning and exercising that love based on truth? 

What are we to do with those who claim the name of Christ but don't teach the truth about Him? Paul says, let them be cursed to hell. John says, do not receive him into your house nor greet him. For he who greets him shares in his evil deeds. This is really clarifying and important. We've said that the instruction here is to an individual believer, a chosen lady and her children. And the matter at hand concerned hospitality. 

This woman had been taught and encouraged to exercise hospitality by opening her home and her heart to ministers who might be traveling, teaching, preaching in the church. This is a valid exercise of agape love. We see in the first verses that John had fellowship in love with this lady in Christ, that she was walking in the truth and that John had occasion to know that some of her children were walking in the truth as well. 

In the latter verses, the core of the text, we see John instructing her in who she should and should not welcome into her home and who she should greet. The word greet is very important word. It literally means to rejoice. But the way it is used here speaks of the Christian welcome of fellowship, a greeting, a rejoicing together because of a common faith in Christ and common purpose in the gospel. 

John is telling her, if a man does not teach the truth, if he does not bring the clear and full gospel message of Christ, don't receive him into your home. Don't let him in. Don't give him the Christian greeting of fellowship, of commonness in the love of Christ because he does not share that. He's a liar and a deceiver. No matter what he says or how smooth he sounds, the judgment is based on what he teaches about Christ. 

I find this so fascinating. And I tell you, it reminds me of Martin Luther because I'm endlessly frustrated to see so many sincere, good Christian preachers and teachers hold up Martin Luther as a teacher of the truth, as a hero of the faith because I've read Martin Luther. I'm sure if Paul or John were here to evaluate Luther on the basis of his teaching, they would tell you that he's a deceiver. He's a false teacher, that you should avoid him. 

Now, why would I say such a thing? I mean, Martin Luther taught sola fide, sola Christus, right, faith alone, Christ alone. Well, he did teach salvation by grace through faith alone, but he taught that this faith is imparted to the infant through the waters of baptism. Salvation is sacramental, according to Luther. And he taught what is called consubstantiation, meaning that the Lord Jesus is really present in the elements of communion. 

He rejected transubstantiation from the Catholic church, meaning that the elements physically actually become the body and blood of Christ, but he taught that Jesus is really present in those elements, and that when you ingest the bread and the juice, Jesus comes into you, imparts grace to you, effective for your salvation. It's amazing to me that the Protestants rail against the Roman Catholics for having seven sacraments, but they hold up Luther as a hero when he taught sacramental salvation as well, albeit only two sacraments. 

You can read the Augsburg Confession, article two, article six, list those out. And the church that bears his name today is consistent in that teaching. Go to a Lutheran church and they will baptize their babies there, and they will tell you that salvation comes through baptism. If you've ever sat in a funeral in such a place, you will hear the pastor go on and on about the man or woman being in heaven because they were baptized. 

My friends, John is clear in his instruction as is Paul in Galatians one. If a man does not bring the doctrine of Christ, who he is and what he did at the cross, if he perverts the gospel and teaches another gospel, then let him be accursed. Do not affirm him. Do not greet him. Do not welcome him. 

Now, I wanna be clear here about something. We're not talking about having a lost man over for dinner to share the gospel with him. It's not that we should reject lost men and not allow them in our homes for the purpose of evangelism or just being neighborly. John and Paul are talking about welcoming, greeting teachers as fellow brothers in Christ, aiding them, affirming their ministries by giving them the right hand of fellowship. 

And this is where this application gets so applicable for us today. Believers in Jesus Christ so very often are willing to affirm anyone who claims the name of Jesus or even mentions it. When what they should be doing is judging, discerning who a teacher is by what he teaches. And if he does not teach the truth, then they should warn the brethren about him. They should not greet him as a brother nor affirm his ministry in any way. 

That's the context in which John is writing. Yet what we see in the church today is the exact opposite. The cardinal sin is not affirming false teachers in their lives. The taboo is ever criticizing anyone about any doctrine if they claim to be a brother in Christ. We must not judge. Judge not lest you be judged. Who am I to judge? Well, I'll tell you who you are to judge. You're the one who God has saved, who has delivered out of darkness into the kingdom of light, the one to whom God has given the body of truth, the word of God. 

And you're the one in whom the Holy Spirit dwells to guide you into all truth. You are a member of the body of Christ, the church, which is the pillar and the ground of the truth in this world. You're the one to whom has been given the command to go into all the world and preach the gospel, to speak the truth in love, to judge, to discern, to call out error and false teachers who do not bring the doctrine of Christ. You are the one who God has chosen to guard the truth, to study the truth, to know and believe the truth and to bring that truth to the world. That's who you are. 

And you better judge. You better discern. You better not receive false teachers and affirm their doctrine lest you allow heresy to come in and destroy the witness and the message of the church. Lest my brother, my sister in Christ, you share in the evil deeds of those who are anti-Christ, anti-truth.

We see the command of love. We've seen the exhortation to be sure that love is based on truth. We've seen the application that truth is a call to discernment and rejection of false teachers in their lives. 

Now, finally, in the closing verses of this short epistle, we see the heart desire of John. Look at verse 12. He says, having many things to write to you, I did not wish to do so with paper and ink, but I hope to come to you and speak face to face that our joy may be full. The children of your elect sister greet you. Amen. 

John's heart desire is to come to this lady and her children, to greet her in fellowship and to speak face to face many things to her, it says, in order that their joy may be full. What do you think the many things that John wants to speak to her are? What does he want to tell her? And how is it that these things will cause their joy, their rejoicing, their fellowship in the Lord to be full? 

In John 15, 11, Jesus said, these things I have spoken to you that my joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full. 1 John 1, 4, John said, in these things we write to you that your joy may be full, complete. What things did Jesus speak? What things did John write about in 1 John? Truth, my friends, doctrine about who Jesus is and what he has done, all about Jesus, all about salvation and full life in him, full joy. 

John's heart desire is to go to this lady, this fellow believer and her children and all the believers there, and he wants to teach them. That's his heart, to teach them. He wants to speak many, many true things about Jesus, about salvation, about life in him, abiding one day at a time, about the promises that Jesus gave to us, about the future and the rapture and the kingdom and the new heavens and the new earth. John wants to talk all about the word of God, the truth. 

He wants to talk about Jesus. And he wants to do this so that they might have fellowship, that they might be encouraged together, that they might be built up in the faith and that their joy, their rejoicing would be full. This is the opposite of what the false teachers wanted to do. They wanted to come into her home. They wanted to deceive her, to get her to approve of them and affirm their ministry, to give them the Christian greeting and welcome, the right hand of fellowship so that they could gain authority, credibility and access to the church so that they could make merchandise of the believers, lead them astray and cause confusion and unfruitfulness. 

This is what error does. This is what lies do. But John wanted to bring truth. He wanted to speak face to face. He wanted to have a wonderful time talking about the things of the Lord. And in this, their joy would be full. Fruit would be produced for the glory of God. And believers, the church would be built up. They'd be strengthened. They'd be knit tightly together as one. 

And the false teachers would be discerned immediately and dealt with in the church. And the truth would be safe and secure and effective in this world. Do you see my friends why truth matters? Do you see the heart and purpose of John in writing these letters? The church wants to love today by not offending, by not judging anyone or any doctrine, but rather by affirming everyone and everything that loosely has the name of Jesus attached to it. 

But that's not biblical love. That's not agape love. That's compromise. I read an article this week about this reality in the church today. And this man was lamenting the pastors and preachers who do not say anything because they're afraid of offending someone. His contention was that the church has become useless and meaningless because there is no consistent love. He wrote of one man in a service he attended who was not afraid to speak the truth, to offend where necessary, and he said, concerning this risk of offending, that did not dissuade him, nor should it. 

Let the cowards leave. Let them run out of the church in tears. Let them have their temper tantrum. Let the weak and the selfish declare and separate themselves. If there are only two people left, let them be the ones who are left. If there are only two people left sitting in the pews, all the better. At least we know where we stand. 

The truth is, my brothers and sisters, that the word of God, the truth, is like a magnet. And for those who are attracted to it, it is powerful. It is encouraging. And even when it's downright hard for us to hear, it's what we want. We want the truth. Because we know that we need the truth. We need sanctification. We need conviction. We need to get our mind in line with the mind of Christ and think His thoughts, believe His truth, and trust Him. 

And for those who are not believers, who are confused by false teaching, the worldly virtue of never offending, who do not know or want the truth, they're like wood and hay sitting in the congregation. They're not attracted to the magnet of God's Word. And they go away from the truth. This is not what we want. This is not our heart for any man. We want men to come to the knowledge of the truth, to believe the truth, and to want it, and desire it, and to seek it above all else. But the reality is, many don't want it. Many reject it. Many will go running out of churches like this one. 

But that is far better than having them stay in a place where they do not hear the truth. Where they can blend into the fellowship and they have a false assurance never coming to faith because they never hear the truth preached. My friends, this is a matter of no small importance. This is the message of a large part of our New Testament, and especially these little letters of John. 

And I pray that we'll take heed to these things that John has been carefully teaching us. And that we'll obey the commandment to love one another. That we'll be discerning concerning the truth and error about who Jesus is and what He's done. And that we'll apply that truth carefully in whom we affirm and who we welcome in with a greeting of fellowship in our homes and into our churches. 

And my friends, that our heart will beat and step with John's, with Paul's, with the very heart of Christ. To know the truth. To believe the truth. To hold and guard the truth. To abide in the truth one day at a time so that we might bear fruit for the glory of God. And so that our joy may be full. 

Let's close in prayer. 

Father, we're so thankful for Your truth. We're thankful that You tell us the truth that You cannot lie. We're thankful that You're patient and long-suffering with us. That You're continuing Your work in us, Lord. And that You're conforming us to the likeness of Christ. Help us just to know Your Word. To seek it. To be in it. And to believe You and trust You, Lord. To trust You one day at a time. And keep us from deception. Help us to understand the importance of guarding the truth in the local body in the church. And preaching and proclaiming the truth. And help us to go out into the world and take the good news message of the Gospel to those who are lost that they might be saved. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.