Friday, April 18, 2025

"The Truth Indwells Believers" (2 John 2)

 

EVENING SPRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/18/2025 9:01 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                              Focus:  “The Truth Indwells Believers”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                Reference: 2 John 2

 

            Message of the verse:  “for the sake of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever.”

 

            I think that it is safe to say that the apostle John has a passionate commitment to the truth, and so John wrote this epistle for the sake of the truth.  “John’s concern was that the Christian lady, the one whom John is writing this to might compromise truth in the name of hospitality.  Now Christian love, fellowship and hospitality are vitally important, since they actually manifest the transforming power of the gospel: here are some verses that go along with this truth (Rom. 12:13; 1 Tim. 3:2; Titus 1:8; and 1 Peter 4:9).  Believers share a spiritual love that flows from their common eternal life in Christ.  But they cannot genuinely manifest that love apart from an unswerving commitment to the truth of God’s Word.  That truth permeates all aspects of the church’s individual and corporate life, underlying all it preaching, evangelism and fellowship” writes John MacArthur.

 

            He then goes on to write “In language reminiscent of Jesus’ promise concerning the Holy Spirit (John 14:17), John wrote that the truth…abides in us and will be with us forever.  The parallel is appropriate, since the Holy Spirit is the ‘Spirit of truth’ (John 14:17; 15:26; 16:13; 1 John 5:6).  Though in a lifetime we cannot comprehend the vast depth of all biblical truth, all true Christians know the truth of the Scripture that saves.  They know that they are sinners, facing God’s just judgment, and that forgiveness comes only by divine grace, apart from works, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice and resurrection.  If they did not comprehend those facts, they would not be Christians since, as noted above, understanding the truth is necessary for salvation.”  What MacArthur wrote was telling people how they can become a born-again believer in Jesus Christ, and what he was explaining here is exactly what Christians around the world are celebrating happened almost 2000 years ago on what is called Good Friday, as between the hours of noon to 3:00 P. M. God the Father took out all of the sins of the world on His Son who was hanging on a Roman cross.  The world went dark so that no one could see what was happening to our Lord on the cross.  At the end of that three hours salvation was paid for, Jesus then died exactly when the Passover Lamb was to be slain, and also the curtain between the Holy place and the Holy of Holies split from top to bottom which showed that people now had a way into the Holy of Holies through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

            I will now go on to continue to quote from MacArthur’s commentary on 2 John 2.  “In his first epistle, John taught that all believers are able to discern the truth from error.

 

You have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know.  I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it…As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is t rue and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him. (1 John 2:20-23, 27).

 

            Meno (abides) is one of John’s favorite terms, appearing more than sixty times in his writings.  It is used in a theological sense to refer to the truth that resides in believers (1 John 2:14, 24-27; cf. John 5:38 where Jesus upbraids the unbelieving Jews for not having the Word abiding in them), to true believers abiding in the Word (John 8:31) and thus not being in spiritual darkness (John 12:46), to the Spirit abiding in believers (John 14:17; cf. 1 John 4:12, 15, 16) and, most significant, to believers abiding in Christ (John 6:56; 14:10; 15:4-7, 9-10; 1 John 2:6, 10, 28; 3:6, 24; 4:13).  The truth of the Word, which abides in believers forever, gives them ‘the mind of Christ’ (1 Cor. 2:16).

 

4/18/2025 9:31 PM   

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