PT-2 "Introduction to 2 John 5-13"

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/23/2025 6:55 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                        Focus:  “PT-2 Introduction to 2 John 5-13”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                         Reference:  2 John 5-13

 

            Message of the verses:  “5 Now I ask you, lady, not as though I were writing to you a new commandment, but the one which we have had from the beginning, that we love one another. 6 And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it. 7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist. 8 Watch yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward. 9 Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son.10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; 11 for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds. 12 Though I have many things to write to you, I do not want to do so with paper and ink; but I hope to come to you and speak face to face, so that your joy may be made full. 13 The children of your chosen sister greet you.”

 

 

            I will continue to quote from John MacArthur’s introduction to these verses from his commentary:  “Others, advocates of the so-called wider mercy view, propose something even more radical.  They, too, believe that lost sinners can be saved apart from the gospel.  But they go one step further and argue that those in non-Christian religions may actually be aided in coming to God by those false religions.  Clark Pinnock writes,

 

When we approach the man of a faith other than our own, it will be in a spirit of expectancy to find how God has been speaking to him and what new understanding of the grace and love of God we may ourselves discover in this encounter.  Our first task in approaching another people, another culture, another religion is to take off the shoes, for the place we are approaching is holy…We may forget that God was here before our arrival. (Cited in Erwin Lutzer, Christ Among Other gods {Chicago:  Moody, 1994], 185.)

 

“Then, shockingly, he adds,

 

God…has more going on by way of redemption than what happened in first-century Palestine. (ibid., p. 185)

 

“Pinnock’s universalism rejects the teaching of the apostles, who unhesitatingly declared, ‘There is salvation in no one else [than Jesus Christ]; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved’ (Acts 4:12; cf. 1 Cor. 3:11; 1 Tim. 2:5).  It also rejects the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ, who stated unequivocally, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me’ (John 14:6).

            “In Romans 10:9-10 Paul explains the essential for salvation:  ‘If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.’  Then in verses 13-15 the apostle—in sharp contrast to the ‘wider mercy’ vies—stresses the absolute necessity of the church carrying out the Great Commission:

 

‘Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.’  How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed?  How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard?  And how will they hear without a preacher?  How will they preach unless they are sent?  Just as it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good thing!’

 

“Paul’s progression is crystal clear:  only those who call on the name of the Lord can be saved (cf. Acts 16:31).  But no one can call on the Lord without first believing in Him.  And no one can believe in Him until they hear the gospel.  Therefore the church must send out preachers to proclaim the gospel message to lost sinners because, as Paul summarized in Romans 10:17, ‘[Saving] faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word [about] Christ.’  In 2 Corinthians 5:18-21 it is clear that the message and ministry of reconciliation is to preach Christ, since we are ‘ambassadors for Christ’ through whom God makes His appeal for reconciliation (v. 20).”

 

            Now it is good to pay attention to what MacArthur is writing in his introduction because Satan is tricky and he can use “preachers” to be a part of his trickery, so just remember that there is only one way to be saved and that one way is to call  on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and tell Him that you are a sinner, and that you need His forgiveness, for He is the only One who can provide that forgiveness because of what He did on the cross when He died for you.  So invite Him into your heart and then follow Him as the Holy Spirit will begin to open your eyes to see the wonderful things in His Word for only true believers can understand the Word of God because only true believers have the Holy Spirit living in them.

 

            Now it looks like we will be continuing to look at this introduction for a few more days and then we have all those verses to go over after that.  Remember when the Spirit of God gives you an opportunity to share Christ with others don’t be afraid, just rely on Him to lead you so you can lead others to Christ.

 

4/23/2025 7:27 PM