Father, truly, you are the amazing one, the almighty, all-powerful, all-knowing God, worthy to receive glory and honor and praise, for you are great. So, Lord, we bless you today, for you are clothed with honor and majesty, because you are the great one, the sovereign, supreme, solitary one. the one who is seated on the throne, ruling and reigning from heaven above with your great wisdom, your great power and love. So we fall in our hearts, we bow in our hearts before you now, having the privilege to show your worship, to worship you. And we Lord would pray today that we would continue to worship you in spirit and in truth as we open your holy book, the Bible. We pray that the illuminators of scripture, the Holy Spirit, would teach us and open our eyes that we might behold wondrous things out of your word. That, Lord, as we started the worship time with singing, open the eyes of my heart, that truly that would be our prayer and our desire and our burden. And Father, I would pray for anyone that's come in this room today without Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, that you might grant repentance and faith to them, that they would bow the knee to Jesus today and receive him as the only Savior, the only one that can forgive sin. Lead us now, Lord, as we continue to worship you. May you increase and may we decrease. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Turn your Bibles to the book of Second John as we embark on a new study in the Word of God today. We finished the book of First John three Sundays ago, and then we celebrated Resurrection Sunday and then had one additional sermon in the book of Matthew last week. And today we embark on this new study in Second John, John's second epistle. It's only 13 verses. Lord willing, it'll take us about four Sundays to finish it. We'll go into 3 John after that, and then the plan is to go into the book of 2 Corinthians as we continue to study the word of God verse by verse. Today, I want to introduce the book of 2 John to you, and by God's grace, cover verses one through three. Let's stand as we read the word of God together, please. beginning in verse one. The elder to the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all who know the truth, for the sake of the truth, which abides in us and will be with us forever. Grace, mercy, peace will be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Son of the Father in truth and in love. You can be seated, thank you. The letters of 2nd and 3rd John are the shortest books of the New Testament shorter even than Philemon and Jude, which each have only one chapter. Moreover, each of John's second and third letters contain less than 300 Greek words, which could have fit on a single papyrus sheet in that day. However, second and third John's brevity do not communicate less importance. For they both are significant books placed in the canon of Holy Scripture and are the Word of God. Now, the question comes up at this point, why are these books significant and what themes and truths do they communicate? Well, specifically, 2 John addresses some of John's concerns about false teachers with a new twist. For John would remind the churches in Asia Minor in 2 John verse 7 that many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. In other words, acknowledging the incarnation and the advent of Jesus Christ, that Jesus Christ is the God-man, that God would become man to save man. This is the deceiver. and the Antichrist. Now, in his first letter or epistle, John called these false teachers Antichrist, false prophets, and those who try to deceive you, deceivers. And these false teachers left the church, the fellowship of believers. Remember, John said in 1 John 2.19, they went out from us because they were not of us. They departed, they left the fellowship of the saints. But some of them were keeping in touch with other believers of those churches and taking advantage of their Christian hospitality as they spread their venomous lies. In other words, abuse of Christian hospitality by false teachers will be an issue in 2 John. Let me explain. There are several hospitality commands in the New Testament, which have to do with entertaining strangers, housing travelers, and helping believers and others who were traveling because of the dangers of traveling. As ends of that day were not moral and respectable, decent places to stay. Plus they were scarce and very expensive. Thus we have the commands of the New Testament, commands like Romans 12, 13, distributing the necessity of saints given to hospitality. In 1 Peter 4, 9, Peter would communicate, use hospitality one to another without grudging. In fact, a requirement for a pastor is that he needs to be hospitable. First Timothy 3.2 says, a bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality. We need to be hospitable people applying the commands of the New Testament, the New Testament commands of hospitality. And then Hebrews 13 too says, do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers. For by this, some have entertained angels without knowing it, unaware. People like Abraham and Sarah in the Old Testament, Lot and Manoah and Gideon, all in the Old Testament, entertained angels unaware. And beloved, all of these texts remind us to use our apartments, and homes as places of Christian hospitality for the glory of God, to use them as ministry centers. But in that day, this extension of hospitality was open to abuse. So discernment needed to be applied when sharing in hospitality. For example, suppose a visiting teacher or prophet Our, quote, minister of Christ taught what was clearly false doctrine like the pre-gnostics that we studied in the book of 1st John. The pre-form, the pre-edition of gnosticism that would appear in the second and third centuries. What would be a person's responsibility for hospitality in that circumstance? For on one hand, the hospitality commands would demand that he be provided for. But to do so would seem to be participation in the spread of false teaching and false doctrine. So that person, should they be received or not? Or suppose the teacher overstayed his welcome or asked for money? Well, John addresses this issue of hospitality and sound teaching and sound doctrine in 2 John verse 10, where he says, if there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, which we'll see in a few moments, is the doctrine of Christ, a proper Christology, a proper understanding of who Jesus is. If there come any unto you and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house. Don't allow him to come into your house. Don't practice hospitality with an individual like that. Neither bid him Godspeed. You don't even greet him. John communicates. Further, in 2 John, the lady to whom John writes to in one of the churches appears to have inadvertently or unwisely shown these false teachers hospitality. They were denying the doctrine of Christ. So John lovingly corrects her as a model for all believers against participating in hospitality for false teachers. For that would be to participate and support their evil deeds and their evil doctrine, which was not God-glorifying and God-honoring. And John, in essence, will communicate in 2 John that genuine Christian teachers and ministers can be recognized by the message they bring and the motive that drives them. With that said, some more quick background to 2 John. John, the apostle, the beloved disciple, is the human author of 2 John and was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write the Gospel of John The book of Revelation, which we've already worked through over the years, 1st John, which we worked through, 2nd John, and John's 3rd epistle, 3rd John. He was a part of the inner circle of Peter, James, and John, beloved by the Lord. Next in background, the date. The date of the writing of this epistle would be between AD 90 and 95, shortly after the writing of John's 1st epistle, 1st John, from the city of Ephesus. Next, the key verses would be 2 John verses 9 and 10, which communicate, you can follow along on the screen here, anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, in the doctrine of Christ, does not have God. Clear, definitive statement. The one who abides in the teaching of Christ, he 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. Do not show him hospitality and do not give him a greeting. And these verses highlight some of John's reasons for writing this epistle. which leads to an outline for the book by John MacArthur, which you can find in his study Bible and in his commentary on 1st through 3rd John. And the outline has four major points in the 13 verses of 2nd John. Number one, the basis of Christian hospitality, verses 1 through 3. Number two, the behavior of Christian hospitality, verses 4 through 6. Number three, the bounds of Christian hospitality, verses 7 through 11, and number four, the blessings of Christian hospitality, verses 12 and 13. And with that outline before us, two last things in background for this book, and then we'll jump into the text. The key words found in 2 John are the words truth, used five times. In fact, four times in the first three verses, which we'll look at today. The word truth. The word love is a key word used four times. And then the word commandment and commandments are used four times. And finally, from these key words, I've titled our approximate four Sunday study of 2 John, Loving and Living the Truth. That will be the theme, the title of our series in 2 John, Loving and Living the Truth. For the word truth is the key word and idea in 2 John. And again will be used four times in the first three verses of 2 John, which will be the extent of our study today. Therefore, I titled our study of 2 John verses 1 through 3, the truth. And we'll look at three points. Number one, the beloved. Speaking of the chosen lady that John is writing to, verse 1a. Number two, the bond, the bond of truth between believers, true believers, verses 1B and verse 2. And number three, the blessing, the blessing of grace, mercy, and peace that we have in Jesus Christ. And with all that background and introductory information before us, let's jump into the text by looking at verse 1A where we'll see the Beloved, our first point today. Look at verse 1a of the book of 2 John, I should say. The elder to the chosen lady and her children. Now John the Beloved was the last surviving apostle. And by the time he was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write this epistle, approximately 60 years had passed since Jesus died, rose again, and ascended to heaven. Therefore, John was an older man at the time of the writing of this letter. He was an elderly man, a senior citizen, a seasoned saint. Well, he begins this epistle with his title of advanced age, the elder. for everyone he wrote to would have known that he was an older apostle, the last apostle, a senior person deserving respect. So he starts off with the words the elder, not an elder talking about the office of pastor or overseer as some interpret it, but the elder, a designation for advanced age. With that said, to whom does John write to? Well, as we move on in verse one, to the chosen lady and her children. And the King James and the New King James and the English Standard Version say to or unto the elect lady and her children. So to the chosen lady or to the elect lady, depending on which translation you have. Now some commentators that I studied believe the phrase the chosen or elect lady refers metaphorically to a local church, a local assembly, a fellowship of believers. And her children refer to the members of that church, and that certainly is a possibility. But the more natural understanding in the flow of the context is to interpret chosen lady and her children as an actual woman and her children. A woman and her children who are well known by the churches in Asia Minor and possibly hosted a church in her home since there were no church buildings at this time. And most likely this woman was a widow. For nothing is said about her husband, but was a woman of hospitality, hosting and caring for, professing Christian travelers, unfortunately some that were not sound in doctrine. For again, John will say to her, to her the lady, if any come unto you and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house and bid him not good speed. Don't give him God's greeting. Beyond that, it would be unnatural to communicate a metaphor or figure of speech that would have to be imported to the text to close out the book of 2 John talking about this woman's sister and her children, her nieces and nephews in verse 13. The children of your chosen sister, it says, greet you in the last verse of 2 John. And then finally, The change from the singular form of the personal pronoun you in verse 5, now I ask you lady, singular, to the plural form in verse 12 flows more naturally to a woman and her children than to a church, plural, and its members. Therefore, I take the more natural, literal, contextual meaning of the words here to talk about a real woman and her children who will be lovingly admonished for being hospitable to false teachers, the heretics, the pre-gnostics of John's day. This woman is beloved by John and the rest of the church and well known for her zeal and for her hospitality. Now, one last thing before I move on to my second point. John calls this lady the chosen lady. And the word chosen or elect, depending on which translation you have, is a Greek word, eklektos, eklektos, from which we get our word election. And literally means picked out or chosen by God or choice or select. We're talking about selection, election. And a synonym for this word chosen or elect is a believer. What is a believer? A believer is someone who is elect. A believer is a child of God, a Christian, one who is saved, one who is born again, one of God's elect. For what is a Christian? A Christian is a person chosen by God, elected by God for salvation. by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. And that is how this Greek word is used in the New Testament. For example, and you can follow along on the screen, in Mark 13, 20, it says, unless the Lord had shortened those days, speaking of the tribulation, as he's speaking of them prophetically in Mark chapter 13, no life would have been saved. But for the sake of the elect, electos, Whom he chose, whom the Lord chose, he shortened the days. Same Greek word here. In Romans 8.33, in talking about believers and our security in Christ, it says, who will bring a charge against God's elect? Who will bring a charge against God's chosen ones? God is the one who justifies. In Colossians 3.12 it says, so is those who have been chosen of God, same word, elect of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. In 2 Timothy 2.10 Paul said, For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, those who are elect, same word, so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory. In Titus 1.1, Paul was inspired to say, Paul, a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God, elect of God, and the knowledge of the truth, which is according to godliness. Peter said in 1 Peter 1.1, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who reside as aliens scattered through Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia, who are chosen, who are elect. And then Peter said in 1 Peter 2.9 and speaking to believers, but you are a chosen race, a elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession. So that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who's called you, quickened you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Now who are believers? The saved. the children of God. They are ones chosen, elected by God for salvation. A biblical truth that God sovereignly chooses people for salvation. And unlike those who do not allow God to be God, and who hold a watered-down view of divine sovereignty, the New Testament writers do not hesitate. They do not hesitate to refer to believers as the elect, the chosen ones of God. Again, a synonym for a believer, a child of God, a Christian, one saved or born again. These are interchangeable words. In fact, in Matthew 24, 22, this is a term that Christ uses himself to talk about his people. For Matthew 24, 22 says, we looked at Mark 13 earlier, similar, unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved, but for the sake of the what? The elect, the chosen ones of God, those days will be cut short. Now my point is, don't be afraid to use this great biblical word pregnant with meaning to talk about a true Christian. For we that are believers by sovereign grace are God's elect, his chosen ones. And John calls the dear lady he is writing to the chosen lady or elect lady. And we'll use the same word to close this small book in verse 13 to talk about this woman's sister, your chosen or elect sister. So this lady and her sister are the beloved, as is every true believer. Let me pause here for a moment. We as believers are the beloved of God. We are specially loved by God. And it is true that God has a general, common grace love for all of mankind. He sends rain on the just and the unjust. So there's a general love, a common grace love for all of mankind. But God has a special love for his elect. Because it was in that love that he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. By what? His grace. And that's why we use the terminology when we describe Faith Bible Church that we are sovereign Grace Church We believe in sovereign grace Because our salvation had nothing to do with anything foreseen in us or anything that we could do but it was according to God's good pleasure and his kindness and according to his mercy and grace. So we exalt grace. We, by God's grace, try to put us down, that we are not the first cause of our salvation, that God is the first cause. He's the primary cause. In fact, he's the only cause, we're believers. Because before Christ, we were dead in our trespasses and sins. So we are the elect of God. God has a salvific, a saving love for his elect. And that should encourage us today, we that know Christ by grace, to exalt his grace, to exalt his love, to exalt his salvation, and that his salvation is centered around his will, his glory, his grace. And he is lifted up as the sovereign saving God. And we want to lift him up that way today. And those are the words that John uses to talk about this lady and her sister, the chosen or elect lady. But moving on from the beloved, the beloved, our second point today is the bond. Look back at verse one with me, please. The elder, John is an older apostle. I don't believe that he's talking about the opposite of elder here. He was an apostle. To the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in truth. And not only I, but also all who know the truth. Now beginning in the second half of verse 1, into verse 2, John will talk about the bond of love and truth that he has for this chosen lady and her family. And first of all, it was not, not inappropriate that John expresses love for this lady and her children. I read from commentators who communicated that John was actually speaking to the church because it would be inappropriate to say these words to a lady and her children. That's not so. This is not inappropriate at all by John. For the particular word that John was led to use here in the Greek is the Greek verb agapao, not phileo. Had John used the verb phileo, he would have been expressing a human fondness for her. which would have been inappropriate for an apostle. But John tells her that he loves her and her children with a God-like love, an Agapao love, a Christian love, a love produced by the Holy Spirit, a pure, self-sacrificial, God-like love, devoid of any sexual overtones. In fact, it's as if he said to the lady and her family, I love you and the Lord. And that's something that we would say to one another, right? As brothers and sisters in Christ, I love you in the Lord. I could say that to other women in Christ, I love you in the Lord. And other brothers in Christ, I love you in the Lord. And John is addressing this agapao love to this lady and her children. And how do we know that? That's to the children also. Well, the pronoun whom is plural here and encompasses or includes both the lady and her children. But John doesn't stop there, for he says, whom I love in truth. And the phrase in truth qualifies and explains the sphere of love for them, for this lady and her children. In other words, this is so important folks, truth is the foundation of Christian love. is what binds us together in cords that cannot be broken. But understand this bond of love is not only between John and this woman and her family, but at the end of verse one, but also all, all who know the truth. And beloved, what binds the Christian community of the church together is a common commitment to the truth. It is to say, It was the truth that bound not only John and this lady and her children together, but all who knew the truth, which was their common belief in the gospel truth from the word of God, which unites all true believers from all different backgrounds and cultures and countries. I mean, it was special to me last night in meeting Michael for the first time after listening to him, the great love. that just was bonding there from listening to him talk about the truth of God's Word, his theology about what the Lord is doing in China, that here I have another brother in Christ. So I love him in the truth because he's committed to the truth of God's Word. He is a true believer. And these profound phrases in verse 1, in truth, and the truth, condense or summarize the main theme of 2 John. That truth must always govern, control the exercise of love. For a believer's deep mutual love for one another flows. out of their shared commitment to the truth of God's Word and the Gospel. What binds our hearts together is the Gospel. God used the Gospel to save us, right? By His grace. Therefore, truth is the foundation of Christian love and unity. And I emphasize unity. And there can be no real Christian unity at the expense of the truth. And any unity with others not based on the truth is not Christian unity. It's fake, it's a sham, it's false. Right belief, right doctrine unites Christians. We have love for the truth which binds us together in love for one another. And sentimentalism and good feelings and good vibes will not bind us together when difficulty comes, but love for the truth of the gospel will. And there can be no real Christian unity at the expense of truth. Please understand that, brothers and sisters. To minimize the truth, and this is done all over the place today, to minimize the truth in the name of love, is to abandon true biblical love, which is based on the truth of God's word. And brothers and sisters, the basis of true Christian love then is the unchanging truth of God's word, from which sound doctrine comes. Therefore, the title of our series in 2 John, Loving and Living the Truth, and the title of our message today, which communicates the word truth four times, the truth. And the words the truth are used again in verse two, which brings about the bond we have to love one another. Look at verse two with me, please. For the sake of the truth, which abides in us and will be with us forever. Now in keeping with his passionate, unwavering commitment to the truth, in contrast to the heretics and false teachers that had infiltrated the churches of Asia Minor in that day. In keeping with this commitment to the truth, we see in the beginning of verse 2 that John wrote this short letter for the sake of the truth. He gives us a purpose statement here, for the sake of the truth. And John's burden and concern was that this chosen lady, to whom he addressed this letter might not compromise truth in the name of hospitality and love. Moreover, it appears she had already compromised the truth under the heading or umbrella of love as we will see later on in this book. But John links love and truth and they are clearly compatible they are cemented together they are glued together and love that is not rooted in truth is sentimentalism and leads to compromise as it did with this dear dear lady so John wrote this letter for the sake of the truth and the truth abides in the true believer and will be with us forever according to the end of verse 2 John Stott wrote along this line of thought many years ago before he fell into the air of annihilationism that, and I quote, so long as the truth endures in us and with us, so long shall our reciprocal love also endure. Moreover, since Christian love is founded upon Christian truth, we shall not increase the love which exists between us by diminishing the truth which we hold in common. In contemporary movements towards church unity, we must never compromise the very truth on which alone true love and unity depend." End quote. And true believer, truth abides or resides in us and will be with us forever. And this is a confident assertion by John and can be rendered, with us it shall be. There's no doubt with John, this is emphatic. Therefore the truth of the word of God from which we were born again through gospel truth will not leave us. And therefore true believers persevere and do not forsake the truth of God's word as the false teachers did at this time. Again, they went out from us because they were not of us in 1 John 2.19. False believers, false teachers abandon the truth. They don't fight for the truth. There's no truth war for the word of God, but true believers adhere to the truth and persevere by grace and grace will be the first word in verse three, which leads to our third and final point today. The blessing. Look at verse three, please with me. Grace, mercy and peace will be with us. Whom? Believers. from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love. Now, the blessing of grace, mercy, and peace is not something that John is praying for here. For these believers, John is saying these things you already have. John is assuring them of these rich blessings. He says this triad of divine blessings will be with us, with genuine followers of Jesus Christ. Now specifically, what are we talking about here as these three words are used? Wonderful words, grace, mercy, and peace. Well, Ian Hamilton said, and I quote from his little commentary on the letters of John, grace is undeserved kindness to judgment-deserving sinners. God giving us what we could never deserve, his own son. Mercy stands in contrast with what our sins positively deserve, God's righteous wrath and judgment. Peace is more than merely the absence of hostility. God's peace, he calls it here, I like this, his shalom, speaks of his pledged commitment to make us whole, to restore us and to reconcile us to himself, overcoming every obstacle to secure our everlasting blessedness. Peace is salvation in its fullest expression. John is not praying that these rich blessings will be with them. Rather, he is assuring his readers that they will certainly be with them." Now, I would call grace, mercy, and peace the bestowal of great blessings upon believers, wouldn't you? I mean, these are great blessings, grace, mercy, and peace. Furthermore, grace removes guilt. Mercy removes misery. and peace expresses a continuance of grace and mercy according to Bengal. Then John MacArthur said in his commentary on the epistles of John, and I quote, the three terms summarize the progression of the plan of salvation. God's grace caused him to grant mercy which results in peace. Grace views sinners as guilty and undeserving. Mercy views them as needy and helpless. And peace, is a result of God's outpouring of both." End quote. Then one more quote. William MacDonald in his one volume commentary on the whole Bible simply said, grace is undeserved favor to those who deserve the opposite. How true. Mercy is pity shown to those who are guilty and wretched. Peace is the harmonious relationship that results from God's grace and mercy. End quote. Now, with those great blessings defined, where do they come from? Where does grace, mercy, and peace come from? Well, as we move on in verse three, from God the Father and from, and I emphasize the word from, Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father. And note that the preposition from is used twice here. Before God the Father, from God the Father, and before Jesus Christ from Jesus Christ. And the two-fold repetition of from stresses Jesus' equality with the Father there on the same level Jesus is God. John is communicating the deity or the divinity of Christ by using this preposition from before both of their titles of Father and Son. It is to say we see the equality of the Son with the Father as the fount and source of all blessing. Jesus is God the Son, and this communicates Christ's deity, which the false teachers that John is dealing with denied, right? They were denying that Jesus Christ had come in the flesh. They were denying the incarnation, the advent of Christ, that He was God, very God Himself. So the fount or source of the blessing of grace, mercy and peace comes from God the Father and God the Son. And then finally John adds at the end of verse 3, in truth and love. and grace and mercy and peace, whose source is God the Father and God the Son, are present when divine truth dominates the mind and heart, resulting in genuine love. Let me say that again. Grace, mercy, and peace, whose source is God the Father and God the Son, are present when divine truth dominates the mind and heart, resulting in genuine love. John stresses, and he connects, truth and love because they are the context in which these blessings are received. Truth should make our love discriminating. For our love for others is not to undermine our loyalty to the truth. Therefore, in verse 4, which Lord willing we'll look at next Sunday, we will see the phrase walking in truth, which is the way every true believer is to love, loving and living the truth, the theme of 2 John. In wrap-up, in application, I want to go back to the title of our message today, the truth. The reason being, in our day, truth is often understood not in terms of right or wrong, but in relative terms. For relativism dominates postmodern Western thinking. And when I talk about relativism, I'm talking about a philosophy of life that ethical truths depend on what we think, and that we are the final authority. What is right or wrong is relative to our experience. We determine what is right or wrong, and in essence, we are God. Therefore, people do not see the Bible as the final authority for life, nor do people think of truth as God defines it. Hence, relativism and commandments from God do not go together. They are antithetical. They are opposed to each other. For if you live like a relativist, you cannot say today that it's always wrong to commit adultery or right to live a pure life. You cannot say that it's always wrong to steal and right to live honestly. Relativism can only say there are circumstances and situations that determine whether something is right or wrong. Therefore, adultery or theft or murder may be right in one circumstance and wrong in another. It may be wrong today and right tomorrow, according to relativism. But this is not Not what the Bible communicates. For the Bible, God's word is truth. It is THE truth. And that's why Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. That's why the Holy Spirit is the spirit of truth. That's why God the Father is the Father of truth. And whatever is contrary to God's word of truth is wrong. And when John in our text today speaks of truth four times and three verses, he speaks of absolute truth. For the Bible is something that is true for all people everywhere, for every situation at all times, because it is God's revealed truth. So believer, may we never waver or compromise the truth. May we love and live the truth. May we know the truth. May we study the truth. May we memorize the truth. And may we obey the truth, God's word. Our thoughts need to be very biblical. We need to think biblically. We need to engraft the Word of God in our lives. That it governs our lives. That it governs our thought process. Because as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. It all starts off with thinking. Right thinking or wrong thinking. Right thinking with the truth, God's Word. Wrong thinking with secularism. And the philosophies of our world today that bombard us every day in all the news medias that are out there today. And in some of the music today. Bombarding us with relativism. And Satan wants you to think that way, relativistically. But God says, I want you to think about my truth. My truth is the final authority. So we need to engraft the truth. Right doctrine can lead and will lead to right living applied. We need to think rightly about God. To think about God in any other way except through his truth is idolatry. For He reveals Himself through conscience, yes, through creation, yes, but He reveals Himself through His revealed truth, His Word. So if you worship in a way that's not according to His Word, you're worshiping in a way that's not according to His will. And you're committing idolatry. by your wrong thoughts of God. We have to go back to the truth. We have to build the truth in our lives, meditate upon the truth, think about the truth, memorize the truth, study the truth, listen to the truth, read the truth. Jesus said in John 17, 17, Father, in his great high priestly prayer, sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. How is a believer sanctified? through the truth of God's Word. How is an un-person come to salvation? An unsaved person, how do they come to salvation? Through the truth of God's Word. Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. 1 Peter 1.23. And if you know God's grace, mercy, and peace today, stand on and live the truth, and that will lead to love. We can't throw aside truth in the name of love. You understand that? And that's what ecumenism does today, of the unifying of every belief. Let's all get together. Let's love one another right now. The reality of the matter is we have to love the truth. And if we love the truth, we will love one another the way that we should love one another. And if you're here today without Jesus Christ, your need is to repent of your sins. and receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, the only one who can forgive your sin. He is the only Savior. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." John 14, 6. Acts 4, 12. And John 14, 6 is, I am the way, the truth, and the life. Acts 4, 12, neither is there salvation in any other. Truth is not relative. The truth is God's Word. And the truth of God's word declares you as a sinner, as a rebel against a holy God. And the only one that can reconcile you, that can bridge the gap between your sin and a holy God is the bridge, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the only one that can save you. He's your only hope today. So we lovingly call you to the Savior today, the one who can save you from your sin and give you grace, mercy, and peace. Beloved, truth is not relative. It's a book we have, the Bible. God's Word. Thank our great God today that we have the truth. That we can be assured and say, I have the truth. It's not because it's mine, it's God's. But we have the truth. May we love and live the truth. The theme of 2 John. Let's pray together, please. Father, we thank you that your word is truth. We praise you that you've given us a perfect book, that the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul, that the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple, that the statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart, that the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. We thank you that you've given us your book, the Bible. May we as believers build and base our lives upon the truth. May we pour the truth through our minds and our hearts. May it filter out ungodly philosophies that permeate our society. May we think biblically, Lord, is our prayer today. And Lord, as we love your truth, may we love one another and sacrifice for one another and serve one another. and encourage one another and pray for one another. But Lord, I also would pause and pray for those who come in this worship center that do not know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Lord, I pray that you would open the eyes of their hearts, their ears, their understanding. You would quicken them from the dead today, being dead in their trespasses and sins, that you would call them out of darkness into your marvelous light and save and rescue them. that people would come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, as the only Savior that can forgive a person of their sins. Thank you, Father, for your truth. Thank you that we can emphatically and passionately declare its truth. May we speak your truth in love is our prayer in Christ's name. Amen.