So if you have your Bibles, let's turn together. 2 John, we'll read verses 7 through 11. And I guess for context, let's go ahead and back up and read the first verse as well. It's a short reading. Our thoughts will come from 7 through 11 today, but beginning in verse 1, 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 rejoiced 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. The title for the sermon today will come from verse eight, the first two words, watch yourselves. Watch yourselves. We heard last week and reminded again today of these first six verses of the necessity of the combination of truth and love. That we must not divide these two things. We must not be so concerned or focused only upon an academic or even theological awareness of truth that we remove love from our hearts as we carry that truth, and we must not have an idea that love is absent truth. And the combination of those two things is what we talked about last time. Now John takes what feels like a rather significant term in verse seven. He's talking about truth and love and how that it is to remain together. And now he says that there are many deceivers who've gone out into the world. And we must infer by that, by the connection of these two things so close together that these deceivers don't keep truth and love connected. They'll take the one or the other. And I do think that we can look out into the world today and we can find any number of people and any number of groups who might fall on one side or the other. Maybe right theologically, right doctrinally, but love seems to be cold. It's grown cold in the heart. And that is not the gospel of Jesus Christ. That is truth without love. which will not abide very long, even if it is technically true. And then there are those who profess a desire to just be loving and kind and gracious and accepting. And they will say that their objective is to love others and to love the world, but there seems to be a dismissal of the truth in that love, a blindness, a complete apathy toward Right and wrong and that too is not to abide and not to be something that describes us as followers of Christ we are to be people that are combined with and connected to truth and Love and to remove one as we talked last week is to remove the other But John says here now that there are many deceivers that have gone out into the world There are many who are not holding to this idea and this belief and he refers to them as Antichrist What's interesting is this idea, or this word anyway, maybe not the idea, but the word Antichrist is only mentioned by John in the letters. It's only mentioned four times in Scripture. Antichrist I in John 1 John chapter 2 verse 18. He writes children It is the last hour and as you have heard that Antichrist is coming So now many Antichrists have come therefore we know that it is the last hour There's ever any debate about whether or not we are in the last hours that just settled it the Word of God Itself the Apostle John said they were in the last hours surely then indeed we remain in them as well And a thousand years is to the Lord as one day and one day as a thousand years God doesn't measure it like we do we know this we are in the last days we are in the last hours and Antichrist plural will come. 1 John 2 verse 22 John writes who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ this is the Antichrist he who denies the Father and the Son And then the last reference, 1 John 4, 3. Every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the Antichrist which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. So this idea of the Antichrist, this term is used by John in several places in these very short letters. The Bible strongly implies, I think, that there will one day, at the very end, be a specific person who will pull to himself, who will gather to himself and gain power in the world, who will work against God. I tend to believe that there will be some such figure. Yet, in John's writings here, We are told that there are many anti-Christ. There are many working against the Lord. Many who qualify as being described as anti-Christ. Anti-Christ. They work actively against Him. People who work against the things that Jesus taught. These are not merely people who are indifferent to Christ, ambivalent, apathetic, unconcerned. These that might be called anti-Christ are people who work openly, deliberately, and belligerently against the teachings of Christ. These are anti-Christ. And John says there are many. Many deceivers. And then he labels many of these deceivers anti-Christ. And then he tells us, and we'll come to this again later, but in verse 8, watch yourselves. Be careful. Be thoughtful. Be discerning. Be concerned about experiencing the teachings of these people. These are not people that are just indifferent. This isn't your co-worker who simply denies Christ or doesn't follow Christ merely, I should say. These are the people who openly work against the teachings of Christ. The sense seems to be that these that are called anti-Christ is just that. They are anti-Christ. and anti all the things that he has taught. And they're in the world today. And there's many of them. There's many of them. And so John says to watch yourselves. Watch yourselves. The struggle against those who are the enemies of Christ, these anti-Christ that exist, this struggle is not new to us. It's been something that God's people have had to deal with from the beginning, and certainly the church in the New Testament age has been dealing with those who would work openly against Christ all the while. This is not a new struggle. I think we certainly seem today in our lives, in the world that we live in, in our time, we live in a time of great, what seems to be a great spirit of antichrist in our nation today. We seem to have more and more who are not just apathetic or dismissive or setting Christ aside merely as terrible and as damning as that is. We have more and more, it seems to me, who are openly and actively working against Christ. They can rightly be called anti-Christ. We have a great sense of that in our nation today, and I think, judged by our experience, as limited as even that might be, it seems throughout the world today. In our time in Pakistan, we saw evidence directly and continue to now, of course, those who would openly work against the teaching of Christ. And these are antichrists. and we see so many today, and what John writes seems to be so true in our own times. It seems, at least in my life anyway, that there's never been a time where our nation has set itself up so openly as an enemy of Christ and His teachings. I know it's not global. I know it's not whole. I don't believe that perhaps things are as terrible as they might seem. I think there are many yet clinging to Christ and following Him, and yet from the public perspective or from our popular culture, our arts, our sciences, our government, our education, it seems that we've never really set ourselves up as openly anti-Christ as we have today in 2023. And so, John tells us, God does through him, watch yourselves. Watch yourselves in those places where you think you're safe, even. And I'm not going to be preaching about being paranoid or being concerned so much that you kind of live your life on eggshells, but I think we're going to see an important calling upon the life of a child of God who is surrounded by antichrists. Many of them that have gone out. And this is not new again. And yet it is as true today as it's ever been. And yet the church again has been facing them from the very beginning. John even tells us that in his own day, 2,000 years ago, that there were many who he would call antichrists. So when we think about watching yourselves, Why must we watch ourselves? Because that's kind of how this passage kind of got organized in my own thoughts as I prepared and prayed and thought about it, those five questions that who, what, when, where, and why. Well, why? First, why do we have to watch ourselves? Well, because there are people who are working against the things that Christ would have us to know and to be and to do. What is it that they are? These deceivers who deny Christ's incarnation? That's specifically what John says are antichrists, those who deny that Jesus came in the flesh. These antichrists, these individuals that John is referring to, deny that Jesus came in the flesh, in full humanity. They deny that. If you'll forgive me for just a few minutes, we want to set up what that means. There was these that believed this. This was prevalent in the New Testament days. And these days there were people who said Jesus only appeared to be human. But he wasn't really human. It's called docetism. And some would say that God, the Son, didn't really come to Jesus of Nazareth until His baptism. And that's when the Spirit combined and was somewhat with Christ. But He wasn't really flesh. And that Christ left Him before He was crucified. It just appeared that way. And in the Greek, the word that translates to dulcetism means to appear. These antichrists that John is talking about, this is the theological component, idea, principle that they were denying. They said that Jesus didn't come in the flesh. This idea was rejected in the early church, and it should have been. Certainly, we need to reject it today. I found a humorous quote from the first century theologian, Ignatius, and he said those, and I'll just, I'll quote it, because I'll mess it up. He writes of them, and he says, of the Docetists as unbelievers who maintained that Christ only seemed to suffer as they themselves only seemed to be Christian. So this is the battleground upon which John is writing and he is encouraging us. And this is probably not a doctrine, by the way, that you and I are shaking on. I know this. But it's in the Word of God. And I think there's more to it than what lays on the surface of the table. As you open this book and lay it out and read this passage, there's more to an understanding that Jesus Christ is God and is man, and what that means for us from a salvation perspective, but also from a sanctification perspective. Why it is that we live Christian lives. Now why? Is the Incarnation so essential? The Incarnation being the coming together, the combining of God and man in Jesus Christ. All God. All man. Not part God, part man. Not a mixture, but all of both. Why is this doctrine so essential to the Christian faith? Well, it's really quite simple. It's really quite simple. If Jesus is not both God and man, if Jesus did not come in the flesh as a man, then no man has done a few things that are essential. Number one, no man, if Jesus did not come as a man, then no man has ever fulfilled the law of God. God's law remains unfulfilled if Jesus did not fulfill it. And if that is true, which it would be if Jesus had not come, then the next thing is true. The punishment for breaking God's law is separation from God and death. Romans 6, 23. The wages of sin is death. So if Jesus did not come, if Jesus was not all God and all men, if the Son of God did not come and take upon Himself humanity and clothe Himself with a human nature, then no man has fulfilled God's law, and then all men are subject to the penalty of God's law, which is death and separation. If Jesus did not come in the flesh, then there has been no blood shed for the remission of sins, which He did on the cross. Hebrews 9.22 Indeed, under the law, almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. If Jesus did not shed His blood as a man upon the cross of Calvary, there would be no remission of sins, no forgiveness, no salvation, no hope for anyone. This is why this is a heresy that John was so concerned about. These people began to make something of an inroad into the very Christian thought of the day, and he calls them out, and he says it's anti-Christ to believe such a thing. If Jesus did not come, no man has fulfilled God's law, and no blood has been shed for forgiveness. And also, we also know that the blood of bulls and goats has never and will never satisfy, will never bring forgiveness, and so the religious ceremony of the Old Testament, it all pointed to Christ. Hebrews 10, 4, for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin. Jesus is the only way that sins can be taken away, and it's because He was all man and all God. And as a man, He suffered and paid the penalty of sin as a righteous, holy man who satisfied the law of God. And if Christ didn't do it, the second Adam, if He didn't do it, none of us have done it, and we all stand without any hope in the world. No eternal hope at all if Jesus did not come in the flesh. Because the blood of bulls and goats never sanctified any of those people in the Old Testament. Those thousands upon thousands upon thousands of lambs and goats and birds and all of that sacrifice, not a drop of that blood was virtuous to saving anyone. And so today, if we don't see Christ as the Lamb of God, the man who came and bled and died on the cross, then our own religious dedication also affords us nothing in the economy of God's forgiveness. It gives us nothing. We can pay nothing to God outside of the blood of Christ. There is no hope in the world outside of Him. There is no forgiveness of sin. There is no justification. That's why this is so important. That's why I think, and I am thankful for this, I think this very doctrine itself on the surface, again, as we lay this doctrine out on the table, I think most who have grown up in Christian churches in this land, I don't think this is really a concern for many. They would believe, and they would say, and they would echo, yes, Jesus was God, and man. But I want to bring this out. It's in the Word, and I think there's some deeper things for us to consider that we'll consider in a moment. But considering all of these things and why it's so essential, then well, I say, did Ignatius write that those who maintain this belief only appear to be Christian. Because you know what I think? In some ways, though as I have said, I think most people claiming a Christian worldview in our nation today, most would agree with this doctrine that Jesus is all man and all God. But I think when you come right down to it, that's got to be more than words. That has to be the conviction of our hearts. It has to come to us in such a way that it brings truth and love together, which is, again, in the greater context of what John is writing about. This is what happened. Truth, God, who is true and who is love, came and brought upon himself and took upon himself and became a man. The Incarnation is an essential doctrine of the Christian faith for Christianity to have any coherence at all. For it to make any sense at all. The Christian faith would not stand up to criticism without the Incarnation of the Son of God. The Old Testament would not make sense because it prophesies of God sending a man, a Messiah. So the Old Testament wouldn't make any sense. The New Testament would not make sense because it would in essence be smoke and mirrors. A cover up of sin instead of a cover for sin. And that's what often happens in our religious lives today and many are living their life covering up for sin instead of finding the covering for sin, the blood of Jesus Christ and salvation. Don't try to cover up your sin. You can't. It's as blatant as the noonday sun to the God who sees all and knows all. Don't try to cover up for it. Try to find the covering in Christ for it. To find forgiveness. But beyond, and this is where I think I want to go, and I won't spend too much time here, but I think there's some important ideas that the Lord's kind of, I think, impressed in my own heart, and I long to impress it in yours. Beyond the need for doctrinal coherence, as important as that is, it's important that the Christian faith that we follow be able to be studied in a seminary classroom and make sense. We are rational creatures. God has created us that way. Never think that religion is blind, that religion is ignorant, that religion is dismissive of fact and truth. It is not. It must be able to stand in a coherent way with an argument and a position and a truth that makes sense. And that is important. But beyond that, it's not less than that, it's more than that. Beyond the need for doctrinal coherence and doctrinal precision, the Incarnation is an essential conviction of the heart of any true follower of God. And I mean a conviction that grabs a hold of your heart and makes it such that you follow your God, your Savior, your fellow heir, your friend, There's a conviction in our hearts about Jesus Christ. And again, one of the things that so impressed me, as well as Brother Jeff, in our time in Pakistan, when you wanted to make those people smile or get interested in what you had to say, you start talking about Jesus Christ. And I long and I wish that we would feel something of the same. You start talking about Jesus and we start finding that conviction in our hearts about Christ Himself. Because He did leave heaven to come here. If He's a man, if He became a man, that means He did leave the glories of heaven to come here. He did do that. That's more than just doctrinal coherence. That's a heart that's connected to one who came here to get me and to get you and to get your friend and to get your enemy. He left there and he became a man and that means something. It means something deeper than just doctrinal coherence, as important as that is. He did leave heaven. He did live among us and face the sorrows of a fallen world. He did do that. He didn't just kind of experience it from a distance. He didn't just kind of hover around Jesus of Nazareth. He is Jesus of Nazareth. And He fought the fallenness of this world. He did live perfectly before God. Every day, every moment, every step, every word, every deed, every prayer, every casting of his eyes. He did do that for you and for me. That's what this means. That's why John is saying you can't deal, you can't accept these people. They're missing it. Jesus did feel all the things that we feel. Love, hate, sorrow, brokenheartedness, weariness, loss, standing at the grave of Lazarus. Joy in pain and pain in joy. Laughter, crying, hugs, sorrowful departures. He experienced these things. This Incarnation is not just a theological fact. If that's all it is, then we're missing it. What this means for my life is everything. Finally, before moving on from this point, the Incarnation, perhaps, and this is what really struck my heart as I thought about this, It removes our elder brother if we dismiss this or don't feel the truth of this doctrine. Our pattern. You know how little younger brothers, they want to be like their older brother. I did. Never made it. Never will. But they want to be like them. They want a pattern. They want to be what their older brother is. Maybe not all little brothers. I don't know. I know I did to some degree. You remove Christ. You remove my older brother. You remove my friend. You know what a friend is? A friend is somebody who gets it. Is experienced. It knows what you're going through. It is sympathetic and will go through those good times and bad times. If you remove the fact that Jesus became a man, you remove my friend. You remove that from me and from the scriptures, and it's wrong, and it's doctrinally wrong, but it ought to mean something when someone would try to do it. You remove our captain, and of course you remove our way to God. As a man and as God with one hand he holds us and as the other he holds God and he brings us together through his sacrifice on the cross in his perfect life and his death and his resurrection and there's a man in heaven today his name is Jesus Christ and he walked the earth 2,000 years ago and one day soon he's coming back again to bring all of us who know him and call him our friend, our brother, our king, our lord. who hold fast to the truth that He is God and He is man and He's going to bring us to Himself to be with Him forever. And John says, then watch yourselves. Watch yourselves. Is this driving you? Is this what puts one foot in front of the other in your work for the Lord? And he says, watch yourself. There's a dual sense, I think, in the way this language is written in the Greek. As a child of God, a child of God, I should say, who is not aware of the need to watch themselves, is one who is much easier prey for the adversary. And so what is all of this? How is this connected? What does watching ourselves have to do with this incarnation and the doctrine of the incarnation and the denial of the Antichrist about it? If you remove this from the heartbeat of your faith, you then are not watching yourself in terms of what it means that Jesus is all man and all God, and you're not going to be watching yourself, and you are going to be much easier prey for the adversary, capital A. Satan. These that don't watch themselves are like the fish who does not see the hook in the bait. and they'll swallow one lie after another, not realizing that they've been hooked by something that dismisses even slightly what it means that Jesus is God and man. They are like the soldier who forgets he is in enemy territory and does not guard himself against the very enemies who surround him. And John has said there are many, did he not? They've gone into the world and they will spread this lie. So watch yourselves. Watch yourself individually. You need to have a habit of prayer. You need to have a habit of reading the Word of God. These things need to be muscle memory in your life. They need to be meaningful. They need to be more than just routine and rote behavior. I know, but it needs to be consistent. It just does. If you don't, you're not watching yourself very effectively. I just believe that. Again, there's no magic button. There's no magic pill. You can't just read a couple of chapters and mark the chapter and say, well, I've watched myself. I know it's more than that. But again, it's not less. But there's more than just watching yourself in this. Watch yourselves together. Plural. Isn't that kind of what he says? That you Watch yourselves that you may not lose what we have worked for. Do you see how the singular turns into the plural? Watch yourselves that you might not lose what we have worked for. Watching yourself is not just about you. Why is it important to watch yourself? Certainly it's important for your sake. for your own health. Why is it important to try to take care of yourself so that you can take care of others? That old, so often used example on the airplane as the stewardess, as they're going through the safety protocol that nobody ever pays any attention to after your first flight. Secure your mask before you secure someone else's. You're not gonna be able to help anybody else if you're not watching yourself, but listen, the reason you watch yourself is so that you can help watch others. That's what a church is about. We watch ourselves, and we watch ourselves. Hebrews 3.13, exhort one another every day, as long as it is called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. And there are many out there who are spreading lies and deception about this world and ourselves. Hebrews 10, 25, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some. Some, and what he's talking about here, by the way, is a habit of neglect. Not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near. It has often been said there is safety in numbers, and there's some truth to that. We know that there is only safety ultimately in Christ, whether we are alone or whether we are in the midst of many other brothers and sisters. We know that our safety is ultimately in Christ alone, yet it's clear in Scripture that the Lord has called us to be in fellowship with others who can help watch for us and who we in turn can watch for. It's clear to me in Scripture that that's the pattern. Some days Some days you'll need watching. And some days you'll need to be doing the watching. We have seasons in life. We have ups and we have downs. We have good days and bad days. I'm old enough now to realize you have good years and bad years. There's times you need to be watched and there's times you need to be watching. And John says, look, Jesus has come. God has come. He took upon himself flesh. That means everything. It all unravels if this is not true. So don't forget this and watch yourselves in this. Some days you're gonna need to be watched some days you're gonna need to do it be doing the watching but all Will need it at one point or another in their lives and in some sense. We all need it every day. Don't we? So watch ourselves watch in prayer Pray for one another diligently truly and sincerely and I want to just address very quickly, when he says, watch yourselves, you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward. Of course, I think this is as clear as it can be that we are to strive in this way. There's no hint here even to me in scripture that he's talking about losing our salvation. He says, strive for a full reward, not the reward, strive for a full one. Even when we are saved, there is still much to be gained and much that can be lost, even after we're saved. Salvation is the beginning, first step of a life and an eternity in every sense. of trying to honor and please the Lord. Strive for a full reward. So much is still on the table after our salvation in terms of the balance of eternity for ourselves and for those around us. Hold to this. Watch yourselves. Watch yourselves in this fundamental, true doctrine of the incarnation of Christ and let it feed every other avenue and every other doctrine and belief that you have in your life. And how do you do this? Or when do you do this? All the time. Abiding in Christ. Verse nine, 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. John often spoke of the importance of abiding. This present tense verb, abiding, this ongoing relationship with Christ. Watching involves abiding. to deviate from the truth of God is to leave God behind and to go your own way. Watch yourselves and abide in His teaching. With John abiding in Christ and obeying His commandments, we're one in the same. does not mean that we don't abide in God's presence when we have strayed and made a mistake and fallen in sin and we can't find presence with God in repentance, but you remove yourself from the teaching of Christ long enough, you will not be abiding in God and with Him. And this means abiding in truth and love that were discussed in the first six verses. We must love in truth and we must hold truth in love. And this is to be what our lives are abiding in. the teaching of Christ who is himself the embodiment of truth and love in the fact that he came and took upon himself flesh and became a man and lived among us and lived a perfect life and died for our sin and shed the blood that has paid the penalty and risen again from the grave and had conquered death and is at the right hand of the Father. And we should hold this in our heart to such a degree that we will not separate ourselves from the truth of it, but we will ever and always hold in our heart the love that that should bring in our hearts about what it means. You know, people that you speak to, that you may even try to witness to, to share Christ with, Maybe there's somebody in your life. That's just belligerent about it, and it maybe even tries to persecute you in some way those people should get a sense that they don't agree with you and that you don't agree with them and That though they may not love you even in your commitment to truth you love them and They should get something of a sense. If there was ever a moment of honesty and transparency of heart and mind and word, they would sense this person, I don't agree with him and he doesn't agree with me, but his heart is not full of malice. or arrogance or ill intent toward me, it's clear, I may not even want to admit it, the person standing against you might say, but he does have a heart that has love in it for me. They should see that. They should see concern for their eternal well-being and salvation in Christ. If that's not present, If that's not present, then I'm afraid all the truth in the world is not going to break that cold, hard heart. Christ loved the world, and he brought himself to it, and in so doing he brought it truth. He loves because he is true. And we'll finish today where John did, Verse 10, if anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting. That is very strange to our modern Western ears. But I want to read to you this article that I found on this idea of greeting in the New Testament day and hospitality. Welcoming someone into your home in the ancient world often involved elaborate hospitality, including providing food and lodging. People often stayed for extended lengths of time since travel in the ancient world was slow and difficult. Visitations regularly involved practicing a trade in whatever location people found themselves. John realized that the false teachers, the Antichrists, will not be able to economically sustain their efforts if they are not received by the Christian community. Lastly, hospitality in the ancient world would have been perceived as an endorsement, and thus confused a great many people in the church. To receive somebody, to greet them, when the New Testament talks about that, this is a, I am with this person. I agree with this person. I endorse this person. I know that's not how we look at it today, and I'm not here to split hairs upon it, whether that's right or that's wrong. The truth is this, what John was talking about is you can't receive these people in such a way that you endorse their doctrine and their teaching. It's not talking about being unkind. It's not talking about not treating with dignity. It's talking about receiving them in such a way that you become partakers of their wickedness. We can't do that. And he says, look in verse 10, if anyone, if anyone comes to you, so whoever it is that does not bring this teaching, that does not with both feet solidly on the ground and a voice of unapologetic compassion and passionate thought says Christ is the only way to heaven, He is all God and He is all man, He is our sacrifice, He is our King, He is our Lord and He is our brother. Whoever it is that does not bring this teaching I don't care who it is, friend or foe, brother or stranger, whoever might bring such a teaching, you're not to receive. You're not to bring in and endorse and put forward that you agree. Watch yourselves. Watch yourselves in this, your own heart and your own mind, as you examine here today, as I'll close. What is my heart's disposition toward Christ as God and man, and what does that drive me toward in my life? What do I see more clearly because I see that clearly? What do I take away as I walk out the door and begin my day? How am I bringing along with me the knowledge of the truth that Jesus Christ is both God and man? And do I see why it is so essential? that I hold passionately to the truth of this message in my life. Watch yourselves, and let's watch us, ourselves, together, and continue to do so. And I'm thankful that we do, and I want to encourage us to continue to do so more and more. Pray the Lord to bless His word today and tomorrow.