Hello, and this is Hackberry House, and welcome to God's Word. So good to have you with us. Let's pray. Father, in Jesus' name, I ask for your blessing on those who listen to this final author of the New Testament, and the one with whom the canon closes. A very important man of God, and we've learned to love him. I pray that you would help us to understand his Word now. In Jesus' name, Amen. Hackberry House can be reached by going to your computer, the keyboard, and typing onto it myheartcry.net. When you get there, you'll discover a lot of different writings. Go to the library page. When you go to the library page, find the lessons that we're doing. It should be at the bottom of that page. We're on lesson 50 right now. And we are, as I prayed, we are studying the last author. the last author of the New Testament. We actually started him last time, Brother John, the great Apostle John, who is now on the island of Patmos. Well, no, he's not. That's going to come up in a little while. But we believe he's an older man and perhaps ministering in the church at Ephesus as Paul is gone. There's been a lot of attention given by these men of God to the church at Ephesus, and John is there now, at least that is what we're told. John's dealing with the Gnostics of his day that believed in dualism, that the spirit and the body were distinct entities, that there was sin in the flesh only, but that the spirit could be God's and the flesh does as it wants, totally different entities, so that you weren't really responsible for it. They denied the incarnation They said that Christ was a man in appearance only. That was what was going on in John's day. These were the men who said they knew so much. Gnosticism coming from the word in Greek that means to know. And so you will see throughout his book the word know. Starting in this chapter 2 that we're on now. We covered chapter 1 last time. Starting in chapter 2, you're going to see the word know. And you're going to see it at least three times, I think. But in the whole book, I think there are 18 times where he says the word no in complete defiance of the Gnostic theories. He addresses the ones that he's writing to as little children. As he's such an older man, everybody to him is a little child. He's telling them he doesn't want them to sin. In chapter 2.1 verses 3-6. 3.6 says, whoever abides in him doesn't sin, and whoever sins has neither seen him or known him. He's saying you can't sin and be a part of God's family. Here he's saying, I don't want you to sin, but if you do sin, we have an advocate with the Father. Well, there seems to be a contradiction there. Can we sin or can we not? Well, we're not allowed to sin. It's not permitted. It's never been changed. We are still to keep the law of God, but the law of God is written in our hearts. And if you know of a man in the church or a woman who continuously is living in his sin, you can bet that he's not one of God's people to begin with. So that's what chapter 3 is talking about. Chapter 2 is talking about those who are God's people, who desire to be God's people, and yet they stumble and fall. And God says, if that happens to you, we have an advocate. We have a lawyer, an attorney who will stand by us in the court and speak for us. He himself, verse 2, is the propitiation, that is the expiation or the atonement or the victim or the reconciliation, the one who died for us. He offered himself as the sacrifice, not just for us, anybody, anyone who accepts this. If they don't accept it, it's not for them, but he died for them anyway. Verse 3, this is how we know. Here's the first test that if we want to know, if we really know him, The first test is, do we keep His commandments? You see, that is the test that we are to apply. Are we walking in the Word of God? Are we walking in the truth? Are we doing the things that the Bible says to do by our new nature? Are we living that kind of a life? If we are, that's an encouragement to us. That lets us know that we know Him. Now, a person that goes around saying, I know Him, but doesn't keep his commandments, he may not get it, but you'll be able to look and say, this man's a liar. He's not walking in the truth. And some of that's in verse 6 of chapter 1 also. The one that keeps his word, though, by in him the love of God is perfected. That's how we know we're in him. When the love of God is perfected in us. That's another one. Verse 5, number 2. This is how we know that we're in him. He wants us and the people that he's writing to here to know something. Not like the Gnostics claim their hidden wisdom. This is not hidden at all. This is written for all to see. And if Christ is in your heart, it's written in your heart for all to see. And John says if they're not seeing it, it's not written there. because the person that says he's in Christ ought to walk like Christ walked, verse 6. And he says, this is nothing new. This is what Jesus told you when he was here. The old commandment that you heard from the beginning, this is nothing new, verse 8. But I want to give you a new commandment like Jesus gave in John 13, 34. Love one another as I have loved you. He says, I want to remind you about the new one that Jesus gave us. So he who says he's in the light and hates his brother is in darkness. You sin or you hate, you're not really one of the people of God. And people who are in that category need to repent of that so that they can truly know that Christ is in them. He talks about love and hate in those next few verses. Let's go on to verse 12. The various stages of a Christian's growth. You've got the little children, the babes in Christ, and He's letting them know, hey, your sins are forgiven. I just want to encourage you. You are forgiven. Don't let anybody tell you otherwise. Sometimes it's going to seem like they're not because you're still kind of carnal in your ways and you keep making mistakes, but I want you to know your sins are forgiven. Since they are, you can love other people. Hey, what about the older people on the other end, the fathers? I'm writing to you to encourage you because you have known Him. And I want you to keep on knowing Him and stay faithful to the end. Then there's the ones in between, the young men. They're the overcomers. They're not babies anymore. They finally got to the place where they can overcome. They walk in victory all the time. They're overcoming. And He wants to encourage them too. And He says the same thing basically to them again a second time. That's in verses 12, 13, and 14. He tells us not to love the world. If you're a baby Christian, this must be hard for you to understand and see, but the world is not ours. We're not to love the world or the things that are in the world, and if you love the world, the love of the Father can't be in you. You can't have two things in the same place at the same time. You can't love the world. Everything that's in the world, that's the desires of your flesh, the desire of your eye and the pride of life, it's not of the Father. What's those three things again? Well, those are the things that Adam and Eve, Eve in particular, had to deal with when she fell into sin. The lust of the flesh. Her body was hungry. She wanted something even though God had said she couldn't have it. She wanted it for her flesh. She wanted to satisfy her body. And then there were the things that were not directly for her body, but things that were just pleasing to her eyes that she wanted. That's the lust of the eyes. There are things that you look at that you don't actually take into your body, but they satisfy you when you have them. She wanted that. And the pride of life. Thinking that you know more than God. And wanting others to think of you that way. All of those things. All of those things. are of the devil. They're of the world, and those are the things the world goes after. You might see somebody that's not too proud, but they have their things around them. They've got to go after their things. Do you know anybody in the world that doesn't have one of those three idols? The lust of the flesh, or eyes, or pride? Very rarely do you find somebody, and of course, if you check everybody's heart, according to Paul, you'll find that all have sinned. and fallen short of His glory in one area. Christ wants us to be separated, divorced from the world, because the world's passing away. But we are not going to pass away. We're going to stay around for a long time. So, little children, it's the last hour, he says. You know the Antichrist is coming? He talks about the Antichrist here. You heard that he's coming. I think we heard that from Paul. I think that's what he's referring to, the letters of Paul. You heard that there's one coming. But I want you to know that that spirit of Antichrist still is with us now. Has been with us ever since. People wanting to come against Jesus, that's what anti means. Or be in place of Jesus, that's also what anti means. And the true Antichrist is one, I believe, who will come against Jesus in the name of Jesus. Can you imagine that happening? Yeah, it happened through the Popes of Rome. It happened through the Popes of Rome. They sit in the, as it were, the temple of God, the church of God and say that they are what? The Lord God, the Pope, the vicar or the representative of Christ. They say they are Christ and they persecute the true Christians. Can you imagine it? Can you fathom it? That's another study and we'll talk about some of it again in Revelation coming up. They went out from us, but they were not of us. See, there are people in your number who are really not yours. They don't belong to Christ yet. They haven't truly repented of their sins. And yet they walk with you. You know everything, though, because you have an anointing. That's what it says in verse 20. In theory, that's the truth. You really do have all that there is to know in the universe right inside of you. The Holy Ghost is inside of you. But God has ordained that it come to you piecemeal through the teachers. Yes, through your study of the Word. And the Holy Spirit in you will illuminate you and will help you understand things as the Word is preached from the outside. He has ordained that faith should come by hearing the Word of God. But the Holy Spirit's in you nonetheless. And you know everything. He wants that word know to get inside of his hearers and readers. He says, I'm not writing to you because you don't know the truth. I'm writing to you because you do know the truth. You see, that's the balance. We must have people writing to us and speaking to us and teaching us. But it's only because we do know the truth. You see, when you say these very same things to unbelievers, they don't receive it. They don't understand it. They're not equipped to understand it. But we who know Christ are equipped through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit's our receiver where we can receive the things from God. Anyone that denies Jesus is the Christ is a liar. There's your antichrist. When you have someone denying Jesus is the Christ. Verses 24 and following. Keep it in you what you had from the beginning. What have you had from the beginning? Eternal life. Eternal life. The promises of eternal life are there. Keep them. Hold on to them. And that anointing will teach you everything you need to know. You don't need somebody, some philosopher, some Gnostic somebody out in the world telling you anything. You have Christ in you. You abide in Him, He'll abide in you. And do abide in Him, verse 28. Because when He comes, we don't want to be ashamed before Him. Stay in Him. Don't be drawn away to these false teachers. I beg you, stay in Christ, He says. Chapter 3, famous. Verse, behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us. By the way, there's another no in verse 29 up above. That we should be called the children of God. That's why the world doesn't know us. It didn't know Him. There's the word no again. Twice. I think I'm skipping some of the no's. I thought I had circled them all, but evidently not. It's just filled with the word no. Verse 2, Beloved, now are we children, but it hasn't been revealed what we shall be. There's something that's not in the Bible. There's something that's not in the Bible. Oh, the Bible gives us everything we need to live the godly life before Him right now, but there are things that aren't in the Bible. Many things that we're going to learn someday. And there are things that the apostles knew that we don't know, having walked with Jesus. They didn't write it all. They couldn't possibly, John said, have written it all. But they wrote what we needed. So we don't have that which is perfect yet. Oh, no. That which is perfect is the condition of affairs when Jesus comes back. We will know as we were fully known. Such knowledge we can't imagine when we have our new bodies and can contain that knowledge. No, don't even think you have all there is to know yet. And when Jesus comes, we'll see him as he is. See, it's impossible to see Him as He is unless we are like Him in His body. We can't see Him in His fullness right now in these bodies. Got to have a body like His. Then He goes back talking about sin and trying to get people to get out of that sin and describing who the people of God are by His talking here. Whoever commits sin commits lawlessness. You know that He was manifested to take away sin. whoever abides in him does not sin." So you look around you and you see people in the church that are sinning. You don't become judgmental and critical, but you can know in your heart they're not saved or they're very young in the Lord, if they still love the world so much. And it grieves you, doesn't it, to be around Christians that are always talking about the world. And you really can't enter the conversation, because you don't know that much. You disassociated yourself from it. Some people have to work in the world, and they have to learn certain things, and so they're tuned in. But for the most part, we don't have to be tuned in. You can turn the television off. We did it several months ago. I've done it several times down through the years. God is giving us grace, I believe, to hold on to it this time. It's been since April 2002, and I'm talking to you in July of that year. That's not a whole long time, but we've already missed out, thank God, on some of the newer programming and the sports scores and all the hype and the junk that's out there. We're not into it. We don't know what's going on. Every once in a while I read a headline on the internet. Every once in a while I hear something on the radio, but we decided television is not for us. We're not tuned in. We want to tune in to Jesus. Anyone that practices righteousness is righteous, verse 7, as he is righteous. But a person who sins must be of the devil. Is this difficult to understand? Not at all. It's very clear, very straightforward. If you love the world, you must be of the devil. That's what John said. And anyone that has been born of God doesn't sin, it says. We're talking here about practicing sin. You just cannot keep practicing sin all the time with no thought about it at all, if you are truly one of His." This is the message, verse 11, that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Not like Cain, who killed one another. Don't marvel, he says, if the world hates you. You know, You're to love them, but there's no guarantees they're going to love you back. No, you're not going to receive favor just because you did the right thing. So don't get distressed when they don't love you. But verse 14, we do know... No, there it is again. We know that we have passed from death to life. That's what's important. We have passed from death to life. How do we know that? Because we love brothers. There's another signal for you. There's another test for you. Do you love your brother in Christ? Do you really love them? That's a sign that you have passed from death to life. Do you love the work of God all over the world when you hear about it? When you hear what God is doing, do you get excited about it? That's Jesus in you. But if you hate your brothers, you're just a murderer. You're no different than Cain. How do we know love? Verse 16. Here's love. He laid down his life for us. We know that. There it is again. We ought to lay down our lives for the brothers just like Jesus laid down his life for us. Our sacrifice will not bring people into heaven. That is, will not give them the right to be in heaven like Jesus' sacrifice did. But who knows what your sacrifice might do for the brothers. You don't have to physically give your blood, verse 17. You could give some of the stuff you've got around the house. If you see somebody that has need of it, you ought to give it to them. Talking about love, verse 18, we've got to go do this. We're not just listening to the Word. We're doing it. And by this we know, verse 19, we know, we know. And our hearts will be assured because our hearts do mess up sometimes. I'm glad John addressed this. Verse 20, sometimes our heart condemns us. We don't feel like we're saved. But you know, even during those times, God is greater than our heart. He knows you are. and you can look at your life. Is it producing fruit? And if you get to the point where your heart doesn't condemn you, oh, then you can start asking for things. Whatever you ask, you receive, because you're walking close to God now. He who keeps His commandments abides in Him, verse 24. And here it is again, by this we know that He stays in us. How? By the Spirit that He's given to us. How is it that you Get these feelings that you are truly a child of God that has to come from God. Comes from the Spirit of God. Speaking of spirits, though, we go right into chapter 4, verse 1, connected to chapter 3, verse 24. He's speaking of spirits. He says, don't believe every spirit. You're going to hear from the pulpit things that will come out of people's mouths that aren't true. He says, test them. test the spirits. When he talks about spirits, he's not talking about an unseen entity in your room. He's talking about a voice coming from the pulpit. He's talking about a voice coming from your best friend. There are spirits that talk to people, that give them false doctrines. People spread those false doctrines to the church, and that is the result of a spirit, you see. I'm not saying that all persons who teach false doctrine are demon-possessed, but they are teaching demonic doctrines nonetheless. And you're to test those spirits, whether they're from God, because He says, in the next breath, many false prophets have gone into the world. You see, prophets and spirits go together. Here's how you know the Spirit of God. If somebody's preaching that Jesus has come in the flesh, that He's the Son of God, He's God Almighty, well, you know that's from God. and the ones that don't preach that Jesus has come in the flesh, that's from the Antichrist. That's from the devil. Now, he's not giving a blanket endorsement to all churches who preach Christ. You can see that in the seven churches of Revelation. There's trouble in a lot of these churches. Just because somebody preaches Jesus, all we're saying is that that spirit, that message itself is from God. And the opposite of that message is from the devil. Well, verse 4, you are of God, little children. You've overcome them. Who's them? Well, them goes back to verse 3, the world. Jesus said, I have overcome the world. And He wants us to be able to say that too. We've overcome the world. Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. That's from 1 John 4, right here. These false prophets are of the world. That's why they speak as of the world and the world listens to them. So when the false prophets come and you see people really going for it, you know what that says about their heart. Again, don't be judgmental. But you know the truth. You've known the Word of God. Some of them are asleep, these listeners. But some of them are really into what's being said because they believe that and they teach that too. Be careful who you hang with. Be careful who you listen to. We are of God. This is a good one for the Gnostics here. We are of God. He who knows God hears us. He who does not hear us, he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. Jesus said, My sheep hear my voice. The Word of God is His voice. The Scriptures are His voice. He inspired these men to write this down so we would have it and there would be no question in our mind in days to come what was and was not the Word of God. Please know that this is the Word of God and Jesus is speaking to you through it. Others will say they have hidden knowledge and hidden revelations. Don't believe it. God has given a witness for all men right here. in the book. Stay with the book. Stay with the apostles is perhaps a more scriptural way to say it. These are God's men. Stay with them. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God. You've heard that one, I'm sure. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. God is love. That's not His whole description. You can't describe God with a word. That's why He just said, I am. But He definitely is love. In this the love of God was manifested that God sent His own. This is like John 3.16 right here. 1 John 4.9 is much like John 3.16. And it's not that we loved Him or we're looking for Him or that we chose Him. No. It's all the other way around in verse 10. He loved us. and sent His Son to be the propitiation, there it is again, for our sins. Jesus did that much for us. We ought to do that for each other. Verse 11. Nobody's ever seen God in His fullness at any time. Impossible. But when we see Christ, we see God. And by loving one another and loving Him, we know that we live in Him, even though we haven't seen Him. We can know that we're in Him. And we have seen, verse 14, with our spiritual eyes, we've seen that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. Our physical eyes cannot see God. But our spirit has seen the truth about Him. And whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him. And he lives in God. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love. And more about love In verse 17, there's no fear in love. 18. If you have fear all the time, you need more of the love of God in you. You need to be giving yourself to other people. Boy, it just disappears when you start getting into other people's minds and hearts and needs. Loving them. Somebody says, well, I love God, but I hate my brother. Well, he's repeating that again in verse 20 and 21. Chapter 5. Anyone that believes that Jesus Christ is the Christ is born of God. Do you believe Jesus is the Christ, I mean, from your heart? Then you must be born of God. Here's another way to know. By this we know, verse 2, the 13th word here, that we love the children of God when we love God and keep His commandments. He's turning it around a little bit. Do I really love my neighbor? Do I really love my brother? Well, do you love God? And when you do those things for them, is it because you love God? Well, then yes. You do love your brother. You can approach it either way you want. Anything that's born of God overcomes the world. Jesus was born of God. You will be born of God, are born of God, and it will, your faith will overcome the world. And now in verse 6, it talks about how Jesus came. He came by water and by blood. Is that talking about how there is water within the placenta of man, when a woman is having a baby, there's a sack of water there. There's a sack of water around the heart later on that burst when Jesus died. Was he talking about his birth or his death? And when he talks about water here, is he talking about baptism? Not totally sure. To me, it's not as specific as it could be. But somehow Jesus came by water. There was water there at His birth. Water at His death. And He commands water for us now. Then He gives the witnesses here. I know some of these verses are considered not in the original text. But that's if you have the wrong original text. I believe these were in the original. And He gives three witnesses. We could call these Jehovah's witnesses. You can use this on one of them sometime. Three witnesses of Jehovah. The Father. the Word and the Holy Spirit. They bear witness of the truth in heaven. They agree as one. The Bible says His Spirit bears witness with ours that we are children of God. The Father speaks that from heaven. The Son died for us. They're together saying that we are children of God, that we are His and that Jesus is God. Anything that needs to be said, they all say it together. Then there's some witnesses on earth. There's the Spirit again. The Spirit, the water and the blood. Again, water and blood here. Are we talking about as from Jesus? That day on Calvary, is that why John looked up and saw the water and blood coming out and wanted you to know in the book of John, I saw water and blood. And so he wants you to know, yes, he was definitely dead, and that water is a witness even to this day, and that's why God wants you to be baptized also, that the water is a testimony of some sort. You can answer those questions perhaps better than me. Go ahead and check those things out. He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself. What's that mean? Jesus Christ is in you. It's in you now. It's not just a witness from out there. But you know these things are true. You just know them. When you accepted Christ, you just knew it was true. The testimony that they're all saying, what are the witnesses saying? That God has given us eternal life. Verse 11. And that life is in His Son. Verse 13. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God. Do you believe in the name of the Son of God? Well, ok. It's talking to you. These things I've written to you. Why? So that you can know you have eternal life. Hang on to that. Hang on to that word today. And also I've written to you that you can continue to believe. Keep on believing. You've got it now. Hold on to it. Whatever you've got in Christ, hold on to it and move on a little farther down the road. And this is the confidence that we have. That's the confidence that we have. And we can ask anything we want according to His will. First you've got to decide what His will is. You've got to know what His will is. You don't decide it. But He will tell you through the book. He will tell you what the Word of God is. What the will of God is. And then you'll know how to pray. It's God's will that you be holy. You can pray for more holiness and you'll get it. It's God's will. that you advance closer to Him every day. You can ask for more of Jesus' presence in your life. He'll give it to you. He wants to give it to you. He wants to be more real to His people. And then some controversy entered into in verses 16 and 17 about the sin that is not unto death and the sin that is unto death and the difference between the two. There is a sin, he said, that leads to death, and there's no way to pray about it. And I believe Jesus talked about it in Matthew 12, verse 31, when He mentioned the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. There is no forgiveness of it. And John says, I don't even say you should pray about it. It's done. How do we know someone is blaspheming the Holy Spirit? How do we know that this person is already lost forever? That's a difficult thing to do, isn't it? And I would ask you to pray about that and to be sure when you're praying for someone that it isn't too late. He says, pray for those. If you see somebody involved in a sin, there are some people who are sinning, who are just falling away a little bit and they're having some trouble with the Lord and you just need to pray for those people. Snatch them out of the fire. Bring them back. Just like Jude said, make a distinction here. But there is a person who is committing a sin that is unforgivable, the denial of Christ, the spitting in the face of Christ, and yet you think of Paul who killed Christians, denied the Master, but he did it in what? Ignorance. Then I would guess, and I'm sorry it's guessing and speculation, there's not too much more that can be said in verses like this. Then I would say that this is a person who has known Jesus Christ or known about Him. He's been among you and He's testified that Jesus Christ is His own. I do not say He is His own or isn't. You can decide that theologically. But suppose He said He is Christ's and then one day down the road He decides He doesn't want Christ anymore and He begins to blaspheme Him. The Bible says there is no other sacrifice for sin. There is no one else that this man can ever turn to once his heart hardens against Jesus Christ. If that should ever happen to him, and you are sure of it, I do not say either, like John, that you should pray for him. You may be surprised how few of those people you find. I'm not sure, but most of the people you have met have never seriously considered becoming a Christian. They just held off. And they can still be saved. And you can pray for them and wait on them and trust God to work in their hearts. Those who are in Christ, who have fallen away a little, you can encourage them back. How many have fallen back and never come back? I don't know. But you can't pray for them. Well, we do know, verse 18, that anyone who is born of God doesn't sin. We covered that pretty carefully, didn't we? And we know that we are of God, verse 19. In verse 19, He divides the world up into two classes, us and them. We are of God, but they, the whole world, lies under the sway of the wicked one. That's the two classes that God sees, I believe, in this world, those that are of God and those that are not. Jesus has come, verse 20. He's given us an understanding. If you understood most of what I said today, you can rejoice. You have an understanding of the things of God. That means the Holy Spirit's in you. You've heard His voice, who is the true God and eternal life. Notice verse 21. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Why, that entire book of 1 John, he didn't mention idolatry once, did he? Yes, he did. Not the kind that you worship in front of a statue, but the kind that you worship in your mind, the philosophies of the Gnostics, the things that people were grasping onto and saying, yes, this is even better. We'll go after this. And it replaced Christ in their heart. That's an idol. He says, keep yourself from it. Let's go to the questions of 1 John. Number one, what proof does, well, we did that. Number five is where we left off. How can we know that we know God and that we walk in the light? that we are of the truth, that He lives in us, that the witness we hear is true, that we have eternal life? Well, I've answered these questions one at a time here in the same order that I asked them. Keep His commandments, love your brother, love indeed the Spirit of God, again the Spirit, the anointing, the witness inside, Believe in the Son. Do you see the importance of the Holy Spirit in your life? Be filled with the Spirit every day. Don't write it off because of what you've heard in other fellowships. Be filled with the Spirit. That's a command from God. Every day, receive more of the Holy Ghost. We're on number 6. Tell the main characteristics. of believers at the children's stage, the young man's stage, and the father's stage. Well, the children's stage, their sins are forgiven. The young men have overcome, and they're strong in the Word, and they're powerful that way. But the older men, they have this long record of believing. They're solid, and they're stable. Number seven, why not love the world? Well, it's foolish. The thing is passing away. It's going to be gone. Number eight, how can you identify an antichrist? Well, through the anointing. He denies that Jesus is the Christ. He denies the Father and the Son. He does not confess that Jesus has come in the flesh. Number nine, should there be teachers in the church? Yes. But speaking only what the anointing tells the believers, what the Holy Spirit is able to receive. Number ten, what is our status in the present world? We're children of God. We're born of Him. Number 11, can a Christian sin? Well, that's a trick question. Are they able to sin? Yes. May they sin? No, of course not. They're still not permitted to. But if they do, and physically they are able to, then they need to go right to the lawyer and get it settled with the father. Number 12, how is Cain a picture of the unsaved element in our world? Well, the children of the devil do not practice righteousness and are jealous of those who do. It's still true, isn't it? just like Cain was jealous of Abel's righteousness. 13. What sort of love is John holding up for us? A love that does, not just a love that talks. A sacrificial love. 14. What follows when we have confidence toward God? When we can ask things from Him, because we know His will, and His will will be done in our prayers. 15. Is there only one Spirit? No, no. Many, many spirits. 16. Why do so many hear and believe the false teachers? Well, they are of the world, and the world loves its own kind of people. 17. Why should we love? Love is of God, and God loved us first. 18. Confessing Jesus is the Son of God proves what? Proves that you are born of God. 19. What's wrong with the one who fears? He's not mature. He's not mature yet in his love. 20. How did Jesus come by spirit, water, and blood? Well, he bears witness. Spirit came over Mary. Perhaps water baptism. His own water baptism. Perhaps the blood of Calvary. Perhaps what John saw there at the cross. The washing of regeneration. There are a lot of possible answers there. Number 21, compare Jude 22 and 23 to 1 John 5, 16 and 17. Here, in each case, you've got a sinning brother. In each case, you need discernment. Jude said, one of them you snatch out of the fire. One, well, you don't snatch. Even when you want to reach out to a lot of different people, some of you haven't got to that step yet where you really want to reach out and pray for people. You need to be careful who you pray for and how you pray now. Be very discerning. Ask God to give you the discernment you need to pray. And number 22, how does John divide the world? It's us versus the whole world. Let's move on to 2 John. We already gave the introduction to it last time. Only 13 short verses in 2 John. Written by one called the Elder. We believe this is John because of the way he writes and the things he writes about. A lot of his phrases are so much like John the Apostle. He writes it to the Elect Lady. We don't know who that is. It could be an actual person who lived, a very wonderful woman of God. But the context seems to point toward the church. And I'll point out a couple of things about that in a minute. But I believe it was a church and her children, the members of that church, whom I love in truth. And not only I, but also all those who have known the truth. Now this could be the widow of a great man of God. It could be a woman who was serving the Lord so fully and did have a lot of children, but I'm still leaning toward the church idea. Not only do I love you, but everybody that knows the truth loves you, has heard about you. Grace and mercy is a greeting, a regular greeting there in verse 3. He says, I'm so happy that I found some of your children walking in the truth, just like God commanded us to walk. And now I'm telling you, Lady, verse 5. It doesn't seem strange that he would just keep calling her Lady when she had a name. I'm pleading with you. This is nothing new, but I want you to Go back to the old commandment that we love one another. Maybe there was something wrong in her or in the churches loving like in some of the churches you will see in Revelation here. They didn't quite love like they ought to. He's telling them to go back to their first love. Verse 6, this is love that we walk according to His commandments. So you're not loving. And how do I know you're not loving? Because you're not doing what Jesus said to do. You've lost that love that makes you want to do what He said. You see, lady, there's, verse 7, a lot of deceivers out in the world. And they don't confess Jesus as Christ. This is the Antichrist. Again, he does the same thing that he did in 1 John. So I don't want you to lose what you worked for, verse 8. You've got to hold on to what you had. If you want a full reward, you're going to have to give your full self. You see, he uses the word full reward. He's not talking about salvation here. But people who know the Lord want to have a full reward from Him someday. Verse 9, anyone that goes against the doctrine of Christ doesn't have God. Don't let anybody try to tell you different there. If you don't do what the teachings say. Doctrine is important, isn't it? It's in verse 10 too. If anyone comes to you and doesn't bring this doctrine, what doctrine? The Father and the Son about Jesus Christ in verse 7, 8, 9. That doctrine, if they don't bring it to your door, you're not supposed to allow them in your house. If they're coming to preach something else about Jesus, don't give them something to eat and drink. Don't let them sit down and be comfortable a while. Don't give them any favor at all. You're not going to convince them otherwise. If you're going to convince them, convince them at the door. Preach to them first, and don't give them any sustenance whatever. Send them on. These are false teachers. If you greet them, you give to them, you're sharing. in their evil deeds. So that's a very strong passage and it's almost totally ignored as people are trying to be nice these days. Trying to be nice to the false teacher. How dare us? How dare we do this? Be nice to something that God says is a curse on the church. Send them packing. Send them on down the street. Give them a tract if you want to. Give them the Word of God if you want to. But don't invite them in and make them comfortable. Well, there's a lot of things I'd like to write to you. With paper and ink, he says in verse 12. But I'm going to be coming to you face to face. In fact, he says the very same thing at the end of the next letter that we'll read. And then he says, the children of your elect sister greet you. Ah, is he staying in someone else's home? Or is it more likely that it's his church he's talking about as the sister? He's talking about their church with their children and then a sister church that he's at right now, the people of Ephesus perhaps. He's saying the church of Ephesus greets you folks over there. Why no names? Not sure. Not sure. Let's read the questions on 2 John. Why is this lady so beloved? Well, because of the truth. What is John's plea? His plea is love. That is, walking according to God's commandments. And why the warning? Well, there are many deceivers. He says, be careful, be careful, don't lose what you've got. And number four, attitude toward false teachers, don't even receive them. Third John, written by the same man to a man named Gaius, a true person who lived, and He says, I'm glad. I want you to prosper, verse 2. I want you to be in health. That's been used so much overboard. That's not a statement of doctrine, okay? It's a greeting. I'm just so glad that you're healthy. I want you to stay healthy. Of course you do. You want that for everybody too, don't you? I'm so glad that all your children are walking in the truth. My children, verse 4, he's talking about here. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. Is that your greatest joy today? That was John's. And then he builds up Gaius. He says, you're doing a wonderful thing for brothers and for strangers. And that's good that you're doing that. You've got to receive good men into your church. But, he says in verse 9, I wrote to your church directly, and I found that Diotrephes, who wants to be Mr. Number One in the church, is not receiving us. For some reason, he is rejecting the Apostle John. just like Paul was rejected. Can you believe that these great apostles are rejected in their own day, just like the prophets were? They don't receive us. So he says, if I come, you know how Paul would speak, I'm going to be coming there with a rod. He says, if I come, I'm going to remind people of what he did, how he's come against us, with all these malicious words. Not only that, he doesn't receive the brothers, he forbids those who want to receive the brothers, We've got to deal with this brother. And so he's building up Gaius to let him know, we want your kind, brother. We want the kind that you're receiving. But you've got a brother in the church that's not receiving people, and you need to say something to him. Then he builds up another man, Demetrius, praises him for being a good man of God also. Then he ends it just like he did 2 John, and that is the end of that. I have just a couple of questions on the other side of your worksheet if you're following that. What is the request of Gaius to receive and send out good brothers? And what is the opposite conduct of diatrophies? Does not receive. In fact, he puts them out. He doesn't send them out. Puts good brothers out of the church. And that brings us then to the book that is the last book, the 22 chapters of Revelation. There is one other thing we're going to do. We'll talk about that when we do it. But we're not going to cover Revelation fully at first. It'll all be done, but I want to put a little something in between here. This book, Revelation, unveils the character and the future program of Jesus Christ. It's given by Christ to His angel. Now, there's an angel there, The angel gives the message to John, the apostle, about 95-96 AD. This is during the time of Emperor Domitian's persecution. Where's he at? He's at the volcanic island called Patmos, sitting in the Aegean Sea, one of several places where criminals were sent by Rome. Jesus himself gives the address. The contents of the vision are to be sent to seven churches in Asia Minor, what we call Turkey today. And that's where John is ministering. The outline of the book is suggested by Jesus. It's like this. First thing is, the things which you have seen. The first part of Revelation has to do with a vision that John sees, and it's very much like a vision that Daniel saw. And we pointed that out when we were back in Daniel. incredibly alike. The two visions are one. They see the same one and His name is Jesus. And then the second part of the outline is the things which are. That's the condition of the seven churches described in chapters two and three. All of that's past. Now the vision is past. Those churches are past. Let's let them go. Let's not call them church ages, okay? It's past. It's done. We can learn much from it because they are seven types of churches. And we can draw out of that so wonderfully, but how these other men chopped up history in such a way that, well, it doesn't fit. It just doesn't fit. You have to push and shove and squeeze to make the seven churches of Revelation be the same as seven church ages. It's just not there. Let's not make it be there if it's not. It's so indefensible. And you'll see things, if you look hard enough, in all seven churches that are going on today. Oh, I know it's a Laodicean age we're in. It's also an age of martyrs. like in Smyrna. It's an age of worldly cares in Thyatira and false teachers in Thyatira and other places. It's an age when so many don't have their first love. You can find in the seven churches, you can probably find all the churches that are existing today. Pretty close. That's what he wanted to do for us, is to give us seven types of churches. and ask us to see if we can see ourselves in one of those churches, whether as congregations or individual believers even. And then the third part of the outline is the things which will take place after this. That's chapters 4 through 22. It's a very clear-cut division there. Now, it's that chapters 4 to 22 that I believe, for the most part, have not happened yet. I've seen those who try to trace some things in 4 to 22 in history, and some of it's possible, some of it is not. It is my conclusion, and I'll try to show you what I mean, that none of it has happened yet. None of it has happened. Things like it have happened and are happening, but the events that are described and re-described over and over, you'll see a lot of patterns developing here, have not happened. For that reason, I'm saving chapters 4 to 22, to the very end of our study, after we've gone a little bit into church history. I told you that those seven churches are not the seven church ages, so don't be worried about me trying to prove that. But I want to take you from where John was at that moment in history, all the way down to our present age, and give you a little bird's eye view of history through Holly's Bible handbook. And we'll do that, Lord willing, after we've done chapters 1 to 3. I was going to try to get 1 to 3, and at the end of this lesson, it doesn't look like we'll be able to do it justice, but we can begin in Revelation chapter 1. Let's begin our last book of the Bible. The Revelation of Jesus, which God gave to him Notice the chain of events. God gave it to Jesus, Jesus gave it to an angel, and the angel gave it to John. This is such an important message that they're handing down from the top of heaven to the bottom of earth here. And in verse 3, there's a blessing on you for reading this. If you read this and you hear it and you keep it, there's a blessing on you. He says, the time is near. That's what John said in another place. And you say, well, that's just John talking because he really felt like it had to be near. You can say that, but I believe the Holy Spirit put that into him to write for us too, so that every time we look at it, we will agree with John. It's near. Number one, Jesus Christ could come for me today, no question about that. Or for you. It is near to many, many people all over the earth right now, literally so. It's near. It's coming. Number two, is near in the sense that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years. That is the truth from God. He really doesn't see time as we see it. And so these words that came from John were meant to keep the tension real inside of you. Jesus may come today. Now, I teach that there are other things that must happen. But even though I teach that, I still say Jesus may come today. And I want to be ready for Him and walking with Him. I trust that is your heart too. Not seeing how long we can wait and put it off and then just play around until He comes. God will not be looking very smilingly on people like that. So John addresses the seven churches in Asia, gives them a greeting, and tells who it's from in verse 5. Notice he talks about how God has made us kings and priests to His God and Father. and to Him be glory and dominion forever. He's coming, verse 7, with the clouds. He is coming. And this is literally true. He's coming with the clouds and every eye is going to see Jesus, even the ones who killed Him. They'll see Him come. They'll be able to see this Jesus coming. All the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. He's coming. And then Jesus comes in in verse 8. I am the Alpha and the Omega. I don't have a red letter addition. I'm kind of glad I don't. Because in one sense, everything in the book is red letter because it all came from Christ in one way or another. But here is a word from Christ. I am Alpha and Omega. I am the beginning and the end. I am the one who is and was and is to come, the Almighty. You can't prove in that verse that that's Jesus. But later on, I will show you where he says the same thing and we know it is Jesus. It's incredible to me that anyone could ever doubt the deity of Jesus Christ after having read Revelation 1.8 and verses like it. This book is filled with praise to Jesus Christ. And the closeness of the Father and the Son in this book are very obvious, very obvious. They are one, somehow, that we have not yet been made to understand they are one. We must just say it by faith, but it's true. Then John comes along in verse 9, says, I was being punished for my faith on the island, called Patmos, because of my testimony in Jesus. And I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day. I believe that that term, Lord's Day, that we use it for Sunday today, in the context of the Bible, had to be the Sabbath. There was no Sunday, Lord's Day, in John's day. These were Jewish Christians who were dominating the church. Now, there are many Gentiles in the church by this time, for sure. But I do not believe that they had... Now, they were meeting on Sunday nights. That's all we know for sure from the Book of Acts. They were meeting on Sunday nights. The slaves worked all day Sunday. They couldn't meet Sunday morning. When the slaves got off, they all got together. Everybody had to work that day. So, I'm still believing that this was a Jewish church thinking in terms of Jewish things, the Lord's Day being Shabbat, the Sabbath. And I heard behind me a loud voice, like a trumpet, and he says it again, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. Do we know who it is yet? Well, not exactly. He says, write what you see in a book. Did John do that? Oh yes, he did. I'm reading from it. Isn't that A wonderful thought to know that this book was dictated by, I will show you later, Jesus Christ. You're reading a book, some of the words of which were dictated by Jesus Christ. And I want you to send this letter to seven churches. Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. I want you to write it all and send it all to all of them. They'll all be able to read each other's mail. They'll see. how I'm feeling about certain things. I'm going to stop right there, right before John turns around to see who it is, and let's look at question one on the answer sheet. How can one be blessed by this book? By reading it, hearing it, and keeping it. Number two, who is this one who introduces himself as the Almighty? Well, I got ahead of myself there. Chapter 1, verse 8, we read, Verse 11 we read, but if you want a preview of next lesson, it's also verses 17 and 18. You'll find very clearly that this is none other than the Son of God Himself dictating this wonderful letter to John. That's all we have time for today. What a pleasure, what a privilege to share with you the things of God. We're going to We're going to do the vision and the seven churches, Lord willing, next time. Then we'll get into some church history. We'll do a whole bunch of church history. I don't know, maybe a lesson or so. One whole lesson will be given over to church history, perhaps. Then we'll do Revelation 4 through 22. And then we'll be history. This will be finished. Well, God bless you today. I pray that the word that you heard, something from God, will enter your spirit and change your life today. Amen.