This morning, we begin a new series of studies called New Testament postcards. And I refer to the postcards in the way that they're short. Especially in the New Testament, there's four books, letters, that are very, very short. Philemon, 2nd, 3rd John, and Jude. It's in your bulletin cover. Today we will focus on 2nd John. Next week we'll go 3rd John and after that Jude and we'll end with Philemon on the last Sunday of this month, February, which is also the Sunday we will be observing the Lord's Supper. And my prayer is that you will not miss a Sunday, believe it or not. I'm praying that you would so value the gathering of God's people and the study of his word together, that you would give priority. Priority over anything else that would take your mind and your heart and your affection away from this time together in God's word. Obviously, if you're working, we can't stop that. I don't want you to quit your job. But if it's anything other, and again, if you're enjoying at least health, I would hope that you would value our time here together. Bible teacher Warren Wiersbe, he's with the Lord now, but he's made a provocative statement that you and I need to consider this morning. It's on the screen there. Truth without love is brutality, and love without truth is hypocrisy. Let that sink in a little bit. Truth without love is brutality. If your relationships are just built on this blind, you know, truth that that's it, you have to be right and it doesn't matter, that's brutal. Who wants to be with you? The flip side is, if love is without truth, listen, it's hypocrisy. If your relationships are so fragile that you can't speak truth into each other's lives, then that's hypocrisy, because love only really exists in a culture and in an environment where truth can be spoken. I mean, the New Testament calls us to this. Speaking the truth, what? In love. Easier said than done. One of the greatest battles in the Christian's life is the balancing of both truth and love. I mean extremes are always difficult. My wife has those extremes of always and never. You always do this, and you never do that. And I say, man, those are just extreme words. Always means always, and never means never. And listen, you and I can be likewise, we can be equally extremist. On the one hand, people are so focused on being loved that as you love them, And it doesn't matter the truth. It doesn't matter what they believe. It doesn't matter how they behave. That's pretty much the call of our modern society. Tolerance. You have to love everyone. And you can't discriminate. And by discriminate, I don't mean discriminating based on race or gender or religious belief in that you discriminate. You can't take a religious belief. Listen, 1 plus 1 is 2. 2 plus 1 is 3. I don't care if you tell me 2 plus 1 is 5. I'm going to love you, but I'm going to tell you, you're wrong. 2 plus 1 is 3. But yet, there's so many of us that just want to build relationships, even in Christ, where it's just love, and the loving thing to do, and we just have to accept everyone, and we can't exercise any discernment. All we do is in the name of love. On the other hand, you have people who are so guided by the truth, that they are, I can't say because I'm behind the pulpit, but they're jerks. They're just jerks. They just come across as 80 grit sandpaper, 36 grit sandpaper. If you don't know 36 grit sandpaper, go to Home Depot today, find yourself just a sheet of 36 grit sandpaper and start rubbing it on your arm. See how long that lasts. Rub it on your face a little while. See how long that lasts. It's true, it's sandpaper. But who wants to enjoy that? And then you have, so you have folks that on one hand, it's all about love, and then the other one, it's all about truth, and listen, I just got to be right, I don't care, deal with the truth. Well, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, but at the same time, really, are you really thinking that you're going to win an audience, that God can use you faithfully, without a winsome attitude, without at least identifying with people, with the truth? Extremes, extremes. Everything is, listen, I have to be right. Well listen, truth without love breeds a Pharisee. Love without truth breeds a fanatic. And both are dangerous, detrimental in our walk with the Lord. This is a difficult battle for Christians, for those who love the Lord Jesus, to balance truth and love. How do we balance these two things? Listen, you and I that have known the love of God through Christ Jesus, all that God is for us in Christ, we've experienced the gospel, the good news of God doing for you and me, sinners, what you and I were unwilling and quite honestly unable to do. To secure a right standing before God, through the person and the work of Jesus Christ. And by faith, we've made it our own, thus we've experienced the truth of the gospel. But at the same time, you and I are people who've experienced the grace and the love of the gospel. And you and I are called, just like Christ loved us while we were yet sinners, you and I are called to love a dying world in sin with the truth of the gospel. That's the tightrope. You and I are called to walk in this world where every step is by faith and dependence in Christ. And you and I are called to balance the Christian life well. How do you balance truth and love? In reality, you don't. You embrace both. It's not an either or. It's a both and. It's not either I'm true or I'm truthful or loving. Or loving and truthful. It's both. The Bible calls us to both. You don't compromise either one of them. You're fully 100% of each. Randy Alcorn, an author, says the following, it's on the screen there. We should never approach truth except in the spirit of grace. Or grace except in the spirit of truth. Jesus wasn't 50% grace, 50% truth. But 100% grace, 100% truth. The Bible reminds us. Now yeah, you had one slide there. The Bible reminds us that truth and love were embodied in Jesus Christ. No, you're still ahead one. You're capturing their attention because I see you again. The Bible says in John 1.14, And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory. Glory is the one of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and full of truth. Listen, never was there more of a loving man than Jesus Christ. Never was there more of a man full of truth than Jesus Christ. And He embraced them both. But then again, so does the Lord God. The Bible tells us in Exodus 34, The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in loving kindness and truth. So when the scriptures describe Jesus, grace and truth. When the scriptures describe God, compassionate and loving kindness or loving kindness and truth. And you and I are called to put forth both qualities simultaneously. They can co-exist, they must co-exist in the life of the follower of Jesus Christ. Randy Alcorn tells the story, and we'll get to this slide eventually, but he tells the story. Countless mistakes in marriage, parenting, ministry, and other relationships are failures to balance grace and truth. Sometimes we neglect both. Often we choose one over the other. It reminds me of Moses' Dalmatian, he writes. When one tennis ball is in his mouth, the other is on the floor. When he goes for the second ball, he drops the first. Large dogs can get both. Two balls in their mouth, not Moses. He manages to get two in his mouth only momentarily. To his distress, one ball or the other spurts out onto the floor. He goes on to write, similarly, our minds don't seem big enough to hold on to grace and truth at the same time. We go after the grace ball only to drop the truth ball to make room for it. We need to stretch our undersized minds to hold them both at once. And that is the challenge. That is the call. And that's my hope for you and me this morning, that we as individuals and as a church will understand, will be strong in both love and truth. And the book that calls us to hold both is the one that's before us, 2nd John. So in your Bible, turn to 2nd John. Toward the back end of your Bible there, right before Revelation, you have Jude, you have 3rd John, 2nd John. 2nd John is in between 1st John and 3rd John. If your Bible has a 4th John, toss your Bible. Toss it. Toss it. Short. It's a postcard. In fact, it's one of the shortest. It's not as short as 3 John, though in our Bibles, English Bibles, it may look like it's shorter. In the Greek text of the New Testament, it's actually a little longer than 3 John. 3 John is the shortest book in the New Testament. If we read it, even slowly, 2 John, it'll take us just about two minutes. So here we go. I'm gonna read it, you follow along. And as I read it, look for the themes of love and truth, how they emerge. Remember, this is a letter that the apostle writes. So here we go. The Elder, to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all who know the truth, because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever. Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us. From God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father's Son, in truth and love. I rejoice greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father. And now I ask you, dear lady, not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one 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, so that you should walk in it. For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward. Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting. For whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works. Though I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to come to you and talk face to face so that our joy may be complete. The children of your elect sister greet you." There it is, 2 John. Here's my sermon in a sentence. Something you can take with, take home with. Love and truth are necessary. In our lives, we are to live a balanced Christian life. They are necessary. Listen, the longer you live, the longer you walk with the Lord, the more value you'll see. That is not just winning the argument. I don't win arguments at the expense of a brother or sister. It doesn't mean I sugar coat the truth, or maybe I have to sugar coat the truth a little bit. But I may have to just approach it in a different way. It's just not winning the argument. It's making sure I keep the brother and sister in the Lord. I don't always have to be right. I don't have to sacrifice truth. But I don't have to be a jerk about it either. In John's day, Christians, faithful Christians were leaving their homes and their vocations and taking the good news of Jesus Christ with them. They were forsaking where they were and they were entering the mission field. They took the words of Christ seriously of going and making disciples and as you go you share and they would leave. And back then there weren't mission boards. The North American Mission Board wasn't around. And the International Mission, the IMB Missionary Board wasn't around. And whatever other denomination, they weren't around. They depended on the hospitality of local congregations, of people, you and me, churches in the first century. And as they traveled, they entered a city, and they brought in the word, and they would connect with other fellow Christians, and those Christians would house them. And John is very concerned that fellow Christians would support these missionaries, these evangelists, and at the same time discern errors, false teachers. So yes, show them love, but resist with truth. You keep that in mind as you and I are reading. Second John and third, interesting, it doesn't identify the writer. I mean, our Bible say second letter of John, but if you had the manuscript before you of the New Testament, it would just not say any of that. So who is it? Who is it? It's no different than the Gospels. The Gospel according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. That's for our benefit. But those letters, those scrolls, they don't say it. You have to look for internal clues. You have to study it and compare. And then arrive at the authorship. And if you do that, you'll see that it is John when you compare the writings. Especially when you compare it to the Gospel according to John. And even there, John doesn't say, I John. In Revelation he says, I, John, saw. But in the Gospel according to John, the closest you get to identifying or the author gets to identifying himself, it says, I am the disciple that, what? Jesus loves. Yes. It's almost as exercising humility. Saying, my name shouldn't even be around if I'm talking about Jesus. So as you compare, you arrive at this reality that this is John the Apostle. But he simply refers to himself, here, look down, look down in your Bible. What does he call himself? The elder, the old man. The old man. The old man to the select lady and her children. The old man. He doesn't write the Apostle. Did you notice? Paul does. When he writes to several churches, he says, Paul, an Apostle of Jesus Christ. authoritative. John doesn't. He just says, hey, it's the old man. I'm writing to you. I'm writing to you. Listen, was he old? Probably. But here's the better part of this. The reality is that he didn't have to invoke authority. His influence far outweighed his authority. Church leaders, this is for you and me. We don't have to invoke authority. We should live such lives and we should be part of our people's lives in such a way that our influence far outweighs our authority. That's right there, the elder. Hey, it's the old man. So next time I call, you'll go, hey, it's the old man. We should live lives that when we talk and deal with each other, we don't have to pull rank. We just say, hey, it's me, it's me, the elder. Second John, verse 1, he writes to a specific people, he says, the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth. And listen, there's different schools of thought. Who's this elect lady? And it's good to find out. Who is it? Is it a particular person? That's one school of thought. It's this one woman that he had in mind who was gifted in evangelism and she had shared the gospel and pointed people to Jesus Christ and they had come to know him and those are her children. That's one school of thought. He's writing to this lady and this group of people. Another one, others believe that she had this hospitality about her and through the hospitality she had influenced many toward Christ and it's to her that he writes. And yet there's a school of thought that says the elect lady is poetic. It's figurative for a church. To the elect lady, a church. And her children would be the members of that. church and there would be some support for that. Paul says, talks about the Bride of Christ and even in Revelation chapter 19 the same author uses this metaphor as the Bride of Christ awaits the day of the marriage supper of the Lamb. Peter would concur for sure. First Peter chapter 5, she who is at Babylon who is likewise chosen sends you greetings and in there Peter is referring to a church. And I would lean that way. I would say, yeah, probably John is writing to a group of believers and he's talking, hey dear chosen church, yes you, your kids. But the good news is, listen, we don't really have to draw battle lines here. It doesn't really matter ultimately because what matters is that in either case, he's talking to a group of believers. John is addressing them and whether it's the spiritual heritage is derived from one particular woman or from one particular church family, he's telling them the same thing. His counsel can be reduced to two words, love and truth. In verses 1 and 2, you see it there, they come together. The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth. And not only I, but all who know the truth. Because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever. He says, listen, I experienced you. Not only me, but everyone that gets to know you. They love you and they love you in truth. They know that you and I are connected. And that's how the Christian life works. You and I can walk around and the minute we meet a fellow brother or sister in the Lord, there's this connection. Or at least there should be. There should be this connection. We have the same master. We serve the same Lord. We've been rescued by the same Savior. And there's a connection there that in most places outside of the United States, on the other side of the world, that connection is deeper than familial. Did you pray for the persecuted church today? Again, I remind you every Sunday, by God's grace, with His help, because He reminds me. So I'm preparing. I pray for families that have been affected by the Gospel. All around this world, outside, in those places, where families perhaps are mourning the loss of a loved one. He's gone to glory, she's gone to glory, but left behind is a family. Left behind is a wife, a husband, children. Left behind is a church. Maybe they're suffering sickness or they're suffering in jail. They got beat up. We don't know. But pray for them. Because it connects. We have a connection. I may not know you, but I do pray for you. Things are tough. Things are going crazy in China right now with this coronavirus thing. Have you prayed for Gary and Sharon Tyner? But they would not be affected by this. Yet another town has been on lockdown in China. Can you imagine they put Pembroke Pines on shutdown? Lockdown. That means you and I can't leave the city. If you live in and if you work in Hollywood, too bad. Because it's not part of us, we don't think. But can you imagine if you play for rants lately, ministering in the Muslim world, what it means and whatever shocks are going on through there? He sees it, and He talks about it, and He says, listen, listen, verse 3, grace, mercy, and peace will be with us. What confidence! I know the grace of God, I know the mercy of God, I've experienced the peace, and it will be with us, from God the Father, from Jesus Christ the Father's Son, in truth and love. And here's a transition to our study this morning. We want to zero in on these two words, love and truth. Love and Truth. So, let's dig in. Let's first look at Love, verses 4 through 6. I rejoice greatly to find some of you children walking in the truth, just as we commanded by the Father. And now I ask you, dear lady, not as though as we're writing you a new commandment, but the one we have heard 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 so that you should walk in it. God's... John is rejoicing. He meets some fellow Christians here from this church or from this lady, okay? And he says, hey, I connected with you. You know why? Because there's love. I can see it. I can sense it. They're committed to the truth. What truth? It's not just general truth. The context tells us what truth. In verses 5 and 6 he says, they're committed to the truth. And the truth is that they should love one another. That's the commandment. Read it to him, verses 5 and 6. I'm glad that I found them. And when I found them, I saw that they were walking in the truth. They were living it out. What were they living out? The commandment. They were obedient to love one another. And that's a reality there. Listen, he tells these words as you read verses 4 through 6, they're almost identical to the words of Jesus. In John chapter 13, he writes, A new commandment I give you, that you love one another. Just as I loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have a PhD in theology. No, if you love one another. If you love one another. Jesus himself said this, the greatest commandment in Matthew. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment and the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. These two commandments depend on all the law and the prophets. You want to sum up the Old Testament? You want to sum up the Old Covenant? Love. Vertical towards God, horizontal towards people. That's the beauty of it all. Vertical. horizontal everything in the law after that is a commentary on what it means to love God and to love people read the Old Testament that way it's a commentary if you love God you don't take his name in vain if you love people you don't steal from them and you can keep on going it's a commentary it's a commentary yet Jesus calls it a new commandment here in second well in John 13 and John calls it and says yeah yeah it's new What's new about it? In that Jesus demonstrates it, what it means. Listen, I can talk to you from a textbook. I can talk to you through a textbook, but when I do... When I come down and I say, listen, this is how we're going to do things. And I grab this one, and I grab that one, and we together do this. Now all of a sudden, love takes on a different form because I have invited you to join. I'm showing you the way. And that's exactly what Jesus does. And that's why it's new. Not that it wasn't new before because it had not been said before. It's new because now it's being fleshed out right before our eyes. Jesus is the one who understands it and he's the one who's patient with selfish disciples. You're not patient with people Aren't you glad that Jesus is patient with you? But he calls you to be patient with people If he can tolerate your mess you should be able to tolerate somebody else's mess You know why ministry is messy because people's lives are messy Your life my life. It's not static. I It's all over the place. There's highs and lows and in-betweens. And you wake up one day and it's good. And you wake up another day and it was horrible. And you wake up for a chapter of your life and it's been terrible. And then there's a couple of chapters that's great. But that's the reality, you and I are called, and that's what Jesus does. And His ultimate demonstration of love is when in John 15, verse 13 says, I give, I lay down my life for my friends. He demonstrates His love towards you and me, even when we were sinners by taking the cross. And He calls you and me to demonstrate that radical selfless love, which He enables us to do. He doesn't call you and me to do it on our own, in our own flesh, in our own strength. You know why? Because we can't. Because we're selfish. Because even when we act in selfless ways, we strain our tricep trying to give us a back. Attaboy. That's not good. That's not for God's glory. That's for mine. Someone has to find out what you're doing for God, then don't do it, I guess. But the reality is what's done in obscurity, what you serve, and the life you give away, and the time you give away, and the love you give away, in obscurity, when only your Father knows, that He rewards richly. And that's what He calls us to. Because Jesus calls us to, and love is the essence of obedience. It's not duty. Love. Because I love, I obey. Because I love, I go out of my way to make sure that because I love God, what He has said means something to me. So I obey. You see it there. Verses 4, 5, and 6. The word commandment comes out, out again and again. I love God, therefore I obey. I don't obey to love. That would be works. Because I love, because there's a fuel, there's something inside of me, because of this relationship, He loves me, I love Him, and because I love Him, I prize Him, and because I prize Him, I want to do what He says. That's what we're after. I mean, it works like that in every relationship. Yeah, we've said it before. If I come to my wife and I say, you know, I love you because I have to, it'll be a cold day. No sugar in the coffee. Find yourself a couch, put a sign around your neck that says, I'm in the doghouse, and enjoy. Don't do it, Alberto. Don't tell Danielle. I love you because I have to. OK? Not for a newlywed. Won't work well. Won't go far. But if you come up to Danielle and you say, listen, I have no one else in mind whom I would love to spend the rest of my life with. You know what you got? Yeah, baby. That's what I'm talking about. And you know that that statement was very self-centered? But yet it was others. I can't think of anyone else in my life whom I would like to spend the rest of my life with. Very self-centered, but boy, but who was the hero there? Mrs. Falcón. Booyah, it's free and you're welcome. Enjoy, enjoy. Love is the essence of obedience to God. So he says, love, love. But there has to be that embracing of not just love, but also of truth. And that's verses 7 through 11. Let me read. For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what you have worked for, but may win a full reward. Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. whoever abides in the teaching has both the father and the son if anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works stop there these verses are all about truth and how to act in light of it truth matters Truth does matter. John is aware of false teachers, and they were a danger to the church in his day, and they're a danger to the church in our day. And the immediate problem here, remember, we've got to see why John writes. And the reality is that he recognizes that there's false teachers. And as these false teachers are traveling, they're taking advantage of the hospitality that Christ causes people to exemplify. to offer. Remember there's no motels, there might have been some inns, but the primarily was I showed up and I went to the local church, I would figure out where the local church is meeting and whose house and then all of a sudden hospitality is extended because that's the Christian thing to do. But he says, listen, be careful, be careful. These are not true. Because Jesus has not. That's the immediate heresy here. In verse 7, Many deceivers have gone into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. That's the error. That's the error he's talking about. You have to discriminate. You have to look at the person. What are you preaching? It's not just love, it's truth. What are you preaching? What are you talking about? And here's the false teachers were saying, listen, he wasn't truly man, it was just he looked like a man. He seemed, it was apparent, not for real. And to combat this, John makes the declaration, if they not confess, that means they believe it and they live it, that Jesus has come in the flesh, don't have anything to do with them. Don't have anything to do with it. In John's day the error was denying the incarnation. Because they had succumbed to this Greek philosophy of the material world is evil and the immaterial world is good. So a deity cannot come, a deity cannot take the form of flesh. It cannot cohabitate, it cannot wrap itself or veil, manifest itself in flesh. Because deity is good, material is bad, it can't be. Oh, he looked like a man. He appeared like a man, but he wasn't human. Listen, there's some modern day offshoots of that today. They knock on your door and they deny the Incarnation. You shouldn't welcome them. He appeared. And He says, listen, three dangers. Three dangers. Beware. Beware. As you deal and you interact with these false teachers. Number one, He says, He points out the danger of going back. Going back. That's first. He points out to the danger of going back. In verse 8, watch yourselves. Watch yourselves. Discern. Why? Because if you fall away, if you exercise this rejection that Jesus is coming in the flesh, He's no longer the God-man. That the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was with God, and was God. And then He, verse 14, He tabernacled, He became flesh. You deny that. Listen, you are being an apostate. You are denying the essential truth of the Gospel. And listen, you will forsake your reward. So beware, child of God. He's telling them then and He's telling us. Again, I've shared this with you. I remember talking to a young man and he was telling me the books he was reading and they're all books from liberal scholars, people who are denying the virgin birth, people denying the resurrection. I told this young man, you continue, you continue this way and you will forsake Christianity. It's the natural fruit of your reading. It says, listen, be careful turning away to this new Jesus, because Jesus doesn't save. has to be the Jesus from the scriptures. It says, secondly, there's a danger. He points to the danger of going ahead or going beyond. Look at verse 9. And everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide. If you're reading the NIV, it says if you run ahead and the idea is, listen, there's boundaries. There's boundaries. God has revealed himself. There's a revelation that you and I must surrender, must adopt, must live by. And anybody who goes beyond that, Listen, be careful, be careful because you're not, it's not going to end well for you. There's nothing noble, sincere about a false Jesus. saying in verse 9, be careful, because if you don't abide in the teaching, you don't have the Father and the Son. Beware not only of going back and rejecting that which you made a profession of faith to, but be careful you don't go beyond. And now it's a special revelation of who Jesus is. And again, today there's false teaching and there's false religions that tell you there's Jesus plus. Jesus plus. Every false teaching, every false philosophy of this world is going to attack and tell you that Jesus is not the only way and the Bible is not the only book. Take that with you. I've said it before, but that's what I do. I look at that, I listen to a Bible teacher. I don't care how charismatic and how much they jump or how intellectually sound. If they attack the Word and if they attack the Son, they're false. If they say to you that there's another book other than the Bible written by God. If there's another way other than through Jesus. Rejection. I don't care how charismatic they are. I don't care how intellectual they sound. No, no. I don't go beyond the bounds of scripture. I don't trust experience. I take experiences and I interpret them in light of God's Word. Listen, you can come, Mike can come to me today and say, you know what? I walked on water yesterday. I was at the beach. I walked across the water there. I'm not going to deny experience. I mean, maybe he was sleeping and he thinks so. I'm not going to deny experience. But you know what I am going to do? I'm going to interpret it, run it through the grid of Scripture. Oh, I had this dream. Be careful. When someone comes up to you and I had this dream, okay. Run it through scripture. Again, I'm not going to deny you a dream. I'm not God. I can't say, no, you didn't dream that. Uh-uh. No. But I'm going to say, man, I hear you. And I've done this. I hear you. But let's look at the Word together. Because your dream will not contradict the Word. And if the Word contradicts your dream, guess who wins? That's how you do it as a mature Christian. Balancing truth and love. So you don't go beyond the bounds of scripture. And lastly, he points to the danger of going with. That's verses 10 and 11. And remember, he's talking about truth and love. So it's not just slam the door in the face of people who wake you up on Saturday mornings. Because that's how normally we take this. Ah, stinking. And we come out. That's not what he is necessarily saying. What he's trying to say is, listen, truth should be uttered in love, and love should be bounded by truth. If you interpret this passage as just being unruly and a jerk to people who don't believe like you do, who wants to believe you're God? And in fact, those who do knock on you on Saturday morning, and they wake you up, and then they leave you material, and you give them a hard time. Do you know when they walk away, do you know what they consider? They've been persecuted. So all you did was add to their false assurance by being a jerk. What John is saying here, saying, hey, listen, you can be welcoming, but be welcoming in a way that does not authenticate their message. Again, a tightrope. Wouldn't we like for him just to say, slam the door on the JWs? That'd be great. But he says, no, no, no, no, no. If they knock or they encounter you because you walked out to your car and they got you, you're like, The truth and love, the balance of how do I extend to them the love of Christ because they're fellow human beings, but I don't authenticate their message. Isn't that a challenge? Of course it is. You know what's easy? To be a jerk. You know what's best? To be Christ-like. And easy and best seldom hold hands. And that's the call. He said, listen, when they come, because remember, again, put yourself in first century Christianity, they show up, they come to a Bible study in a house, they meet, now all of a sudden you're entertaining them over your home, and now all of a sudden you start hearing that, ugh, these people are whack. They got some, they're denying, listen, they're not just saying, what are the differences between the Presbyterians and the Baptists? No, they're denying a cardinal truth of Scripture. That God was manifested in the flesh. At that point you say, you know what? I'm going to be courteous, but I will not authenticate your message. Because if they start staying in my house, you know what they're going to start saying? Hey, Pastor Lewis is cool with it. We meet at his house. And that's the word that will get out. Don't you think they know where I live in my neighborhood? Yeah, I know, because they pass right by my house. They don't knock anymore. So they've done their homework. Right? They've done their recon. They understand it. But you and I, it's not mean like you see them, you go, ah, you raise up your banners. God hates JWs. God hates this false teacher. God hates it. No, no, no, no. It just means, listen, I'm going to treat you as a fellow human being, but I will not be known as someone who's authenticating your message. And that's what he's about. John is not saying that we talk about all error, but error that masquerades as true Christianity. It's not even don't not receive those who believe the error, it's those who teach that error. Remember, get into the text and let the text then derive and you apply it. Once you know what it means, then you apply. Has one meaning, many applications. The meaning here is, listen, listen, they're going to knock. They're going to knock. So listen, keep your, you know, the door closed and your wallet shut. But interact if you need to. You still need to show them the love of Christ. What can we take with us this morning? Let me give you a few things. A few truths that you and I can apply to our lives. Number one, the truth of God's word is intended to become a way of life. What you and I study here, what you and I learn is not just to turn it off. Hey, we're gone. We'll go over to the pavilion. I can be a jerk now. It's done. Lewis, you're not behind the pulpit. I don't need to hear you out anymore. That's my wife. She bothers me that way. I've got to talk to you. You're not behind the pulpit. And she says, we've been married 32 years. We lost each other's receipts. We can't even turn each other in if we want to. We're done. We're stuck. We're stuck. No. Okay. But the truth of God's Word, when you learn something from the Word, it's intended to be applied. It's intended to be, to influence. There's an ethic, a way of life that flows from theology, from the study of God. Number two, exposure to truth. Here's a hard one. Does not guarantee reception of truth. John says he had met some. and they were walking in the truth. We don't know, we're arguing from silence, but there might have been a possibility that had met some that weren't walking in the truth of loving one another. So just because we're all exposed to God's truth today, doesn't mean that we're all receiving God's truth today. Number three, embracing the truth of Christ is never separated from demonstrating the love of Christ. Be careful, be careful. We can fool ourselves and end up damaging our own testimony if we just want to be right all the time. You see, a church is not made better by having better music or better sermons or better parking, better programming. Listen, a church is made better because of better relationships. This church is only as strong as its weakest relationship between each other. This church is only as strong as its weakest relationship. And the call of God for you and me is to strengthen our relationships in truth and love. Because truth and love go hand in hand. And let me tell you, it's harder work than you think. Harder work than you think. Number four, even faithful believers are never free of spiritual danger. The Bible reminds us, take heed, if you think you're strong, lest you fall. No one can ever get out of Christianity and go, hey, I got this down. Newton, you can't just come, hey man, I've been coming here, I'm gone, and Newton will say, you know, I got this Christianity thing nailed down. If he ever says that, just talk to Carol. If I ever say that, just talk to Monique. If any one of you says that, just talk to someone who knows you and knows you well. That's the reality. We can't get there. It's growing. Number five, don't assume that everyone speaking in the name of Christ belongs to Christ. They're coming to your home. John says keep your eyes open, doors shut, and make sure you don't give them your debit card. Just because they have a great TV ministry, doesn't mean they're worth supporting. Just because they sound really good on the radio, and they have a good radio voice, means that you should be supporting that ministry. And last but not least, no one in the family of God is too insignificant to protect and encourage. This is the Apostle John, that Apostle John, the old man, the guy who was chosen by God to write the gospel. according to John the one who was written and he says here's a revelation of Jesus Christ not revelations it's revelation it's one revelation of Jesus Christ John what are you gonna do now you've been used by God this way you know I know I know but I got this little bit of paper and I got a little bit of ink I know a church that can use a word or two of encouragement see you and I never outgrow our britches We think we do. We think we're all that in a bag of chips. But here's the Apostle John taking time to deal with this person. Whether it's a person or a church, no one in the family of God is too insignificant to protect and encourage. You learn that from 2 John. He goes out of his way to write to an elect lady and her children. Let me talk to you about truth and love. Child of God, who do you need to get in touch with? Who do you need to spend that stuff that you'll never get back, which is time? Who will you reach out to today? Send a text message. Connect with them on social media. Maybe knock on their door, call them. That phone does make calls, not just shoot texts. What, what are you gonna do? Who's on your mind? Second John, balancing. embracing that truth and love. You and I need to be about that. For you, my friend, if you have not trusted in Jesus Christ, that's step one. You've heard the truth of the gospel, that God is much holier than you think, and you're much worse of a sinner than you think. Just think about it. God judges on perfection, not on intention, on perfection. He says, be perfect, for I am perfect. And then you and I all fall short. But then in His grace and mercy, He puts the perfect one, His Son, on a cross to die. For sinners. And if you, this morning, consider yourself a sinner, then now is the time to secure a Savior. And by faith in Jesus Christ, in who He is, in what He has done, what He has accomplished, you embrace Him as Lord. Would you do that this morning? Would you just cry out right there where you're at? Would you just say, Lord, and then take it from there? He wants to hear from you. Your words, not mine. Your words. Let's pray. Would you bow your heads and close your eyes for just a moment? And I ask you to do that so you can be least distracted. In just a few moments, we're gonna sing and we're gonna respond to God's work. What will you do? My friend, what will you do? Child of God, will you embrace? Would you acknowledge that we tend to go off the deep end on one side or the other, whether it's love or truth, and what God calls us is to love and truth. Father, do your work as only you can. And while we sing, you would refresh our minds and you would convince and you would enable a response, that we would respond to you. And that we'd be committed, Christians, to embracing and living out and being known for love and truth. And our church would be better for that. Help us when we are not speaking the truth in love. Help us to examine even our own lives. We should not dare to look at someone else's life until we have spent time in the mirror of Your Word and You examining us. Not only we reading Your Word, but Your Word reading us. And exposing those secret sins. And exposing that which needs to be corrected. And then we wrestle with You. We get it settled. And then and only then We reach out in love and truth to others. Father, help us now. In Jesus' name. Let's stand. We sing. While we sing.