Tuesday, May 6, 2025

PT-4 "Being Loyal To The Truth" (2 John 7-8)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/6/2025 7:35 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                         Focus:  PT-4 “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.

 

            “John defined the particular false teachers in his sights as those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh.  There are many ways to undermine the gospel, such as by denying the deity of Jesus Christ, or that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone.  But these heretics denied that the true humanity of Jesus Christ, refusing to acknowledge that He was God who had become fully human.  They were forerunners of the dangerous second0century heresy known as Gnosticism, which posed one of the gravest threats to the early church…”

 

            This afternoon as I had just finished my walk at the park I usually go to I ran across a man who I know, not well but know.  He attends a meeting each day at the park where a number of former alcoholics meet in order to encourage each other so they don’t drink.  Last year I set with two of them and gave out the gospel message to them, but there was little response.  I believe this meeting is a part of a group that is fairly large and it began with motives to cause these men to understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but has kind of slipped into just focusing to get those who attend to stop drinking.  They do say the Lord’s prayer at the end.  Tony, whom I thought was catholic, but not sure after today attends for the reason to get help to continue to stop drinking.  Today’s conversation had a lot of Biblical information in it which I gave to him, but his thoughts were that what I believed was as good as other “religious groups” and he mentioned the Muslins.  I just told him there is only one way to be saved.  If we talk again I will try and update my conversation with him.

 

            “John countered the false teacher’ diverse attacks on the person attacks on the person of Jesus Christ by stressing the truth about Him in his epistles.  In 1 John 1:3 he identified Jesus Christ as God the Son (cf. 3:23; 2 John 3); in 2:1 he presented Him as the believers’ Advocate with the Father, whose death propitiated God’s wrath against their sin (v. 2; cf. 1:7; 4:9-10); in 2:22-23 he declared that those who deny that Jesus is the Christ do not know God; in 3:8 he pointed out that Jesus has destroyed the works of Satan; in 4:14 he affirmed that the Father sent the Son into the world as Savior, and reiterated in verse 15 that only those who confess Jesus as the Son of God know the Father (cf. 2 John 9); and in 5:9-13 John wrote that only those who believe the divine revelation about Jesus Christ have eternal life.

 

            “To deny the biblical truth that in Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah, God became fully human is to propagate demon doctrine.  Anyone who does so is a deceiver and an antichrist (cf. 1 John 2:18, 22; 4:3).  To teach as these heretics did, that Jesus’ humanity was merely an illusion is to strike a blow at the heart of the gospel.  If Jesus were not the God-man, fully human as well as fully divine, He could not have died as the substitute for men.

 

            “Knowing the serious threat the false teachers posed, John warned his readers, Watch yourselves.  The church must be vigilant, discerning, even suspicious, because what is at stake is so vital.  Having labored in the lives of this lady and her children, John wanted to see the full fruit of that effort; he did not want them to lose what they together had accomplished.  Paul expressed a similar concern for the Corinthians:

 

1 I wish that you would bear with me in a little foolishness; but indeed you are bearing with me. 2 For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. 3 But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. 4 For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.

 

            I will stop here and Lord willing will finish this section in my next SD.  Thanks for reading this SD.

 

5/6/2025 8:00 PM

 

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