Monday, May 5, 2025

PT-3 "Being Loyal to the Truth" (2 John 7-8)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/5/2025 10:21 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                         Focus:  PT-3 “Being Loyal To The Truth”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                           Reference:  2 John 7-8

 

            Message of the verses:  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.”

 

            I will continue to quote from John MacArthur’s commentary and then perhaps will give some of my comments on this section of verses.

 

            “These wolves in sheep’s clothing (Matt. 7:15) become especially dangerous when they infiltrate the church; hence the New Testament is full of warnings about them.  In the Olivet Discourse Jesus predicted that in the end times ‘false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect’ (Matt. 24:24).  Paul called them ‘savage wolves’ (Acts 20)29); ‘false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ’ (2 Cor. 11:13); servants of Satan who, like their wicked master (v. 14), ‘disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds’ (v. 15).  The Apostle told Timothy that ‘the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons’ (1 Tim. 4:1).  In his first letter John pleaded with his readers,

 

1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world. (1 John 4:1-3).

 

“Jude vividly and extensively denounced these deceivers as

 

For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. (Jude 4).  11 Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah. 12 These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted; 13  wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever. 14 It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, "Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, 15 to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.’ Jude 11-15; cf. Peter’s similar denunciation of them in 2 Peter 2:1-21).”

 

“Everywhere the true gospel goes, Satan’s emissaries are sure to follow.  They preach a false, satanic gospel and thereby prevent the true gospel message and pollute the church.  Paul warned the Galatians against them in the strongest possible terms:

 

 

6 I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; 7 which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of

Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! 9 As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!”

 

            I suppose that was easier for people to be fooled by false teaching early on in the church age, for there were no Bibles like we have now and the churches were smaller, and then God was taking His eye off of Israel and putting it onto the church.  I can say that I am thankful that every since I became a believer that the Lord has led my wife and family to a great church to worship in, even thought the first one we had to leave after a long period of time because when we got home from our job in Aruba the church had called a new pastor, and then after a few years we had to leave and then went to our present church.  The church we now go to was founded before the civil war in our country.  The way that true believers can know that the church they are attending is a good church is to continue to study the Word of God in order to understand what a true church of Jesus Christ is all about.  I have mentioned before that bank tellers learn all there is to know about currency made by the U.S. government so that when someone brings a counterfeit bill in they will recognize it.  Same with finding a good church.

 

5/5/2025 10:49 PM

 

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