Introduction to 2 John:

Introduction:

Good morning New Life, another day in the house of the Lord Amen! No place we’ed rather be! Some of you may notice that Pastor Love, Jeremiah and Curtis are not with us this morning. That is because they are over in South Bend spending time with family, as they all have need some rest during this grieving part of their lives. We also should continue to pray for them and Pastor Love during this grievous occasion. So this morning I have had the privledge of filling in while they are away. Most of you know that just two weeks we completely finished the book of 1 John. This morning we begin a new sermon series on the book of 2 John. Amen!

One thing you’ll notice about 2 John is that it is only 1 chapter short, yet this chapter is jammed packed with Biblical truth that should be considered. Todays message serves as a introductory message, so while there are 13 verses in total we will only be covering the first three verses. That is because it is in these first three verses that John sets the stage for his 2nd epistle. Yet what we need to do is a background check as to why John writes what he writes. First of all we know from the book of 1 John that John writes to the Church of Ephesus. It was upon his writing to that Church that John got his nickname the ‘Apostle of love”. There are many reasons why John has been named the Apostle of love that is because John had a very unique way of describing the love of God. Many example of that can be seen throughout the Gospel of John (John 3:16) and even in the book of 1 John, (1 John 4:7-21).

Not only is John called the Apostle of love but I also believe that John should have another nickname. I like to call John the Apostle of truth because John had knack for being faithful to the truth about Jesus Christ. Even in his Gospel the first chapter is dedicated to declaring the truth and grace of Jesus Christ. Not only that but think back on the book of 1 John when over and over again he spoke of Jesus as being the truth 1 John 2:18-23, 1 John 4:1-6, 1 John 5:5-13.

I say all of that because you will quickly notice that John has a very specific theme throughout his second epistle. That theme is being walking in truth and walking in love. This is very important because each week we are bombarded by a multitude of lies and culture -norms that contradict the word of God. A fellow minster I know once said that he always begins his messages with this “You’ve heard a lot of different thing’s over the past few weeks but hear the truth this morning”. He said he does that because he always want’s his congregation to know that the words they are hearing every Sunday is the truth. As Christians we have to be well concerned that what read in our Bibles and what we hear in Church isn’t something that is just mumbo jumbo but it is the absolute reality it is the truth.

With all of that said as we begin this morning ‘s message in 2nd John we have 3 observations in todays message.

1.) The Truth in our Election.

2.) The Truth in our Steadfastness.

3.) The Truth in our Grace.

So, if you have your Bibles please grab them a turn in the the book of 2 John.

2 John 1–13 “The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all who know the truth, because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever: Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father’s Son, in truth and love. I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father. And now I ask you, dear lady—not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning—that we love one another. And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it. For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward. Everyone who go…”

May God bless the reading, hearing and doing his word Amen!

The Truth in our Election:

Observation number one comes from verse 1, now while we just read the entire chapter of 2 John. Todays message will mostly be covering the first three verses as todays message will serve mostly as a introduction message to the book as a whole. Yet concerning our first observation we see that when John writes he writes this epistle to what appears to be someone called the lady, specifcally to the lady her children. Now what John is doing here is not writing to a specific lady or to some grandma and her children, rather when John writes he’s writing to the Church. It is interesting that John calls the Church lady because we know that typically the Church is called the bride of Christ (Ephesians 5:22-33). I get the sense here that John writes to the this Church calling them the lady because they are the bride of Christ. This gives these people that John is writing to full assurance that they are apart of Christ bride. Not only does John refer to them as the lady signify their them being their Bride it also signifies their calling and election. That is because when you understand that it is not of people themselves that choose Christ rather it Christ that has chosen us, we clearly see that we are of the elect. As in Colossians 3:12 it calls Christians the elect of God. While yes everyone who is saved must choose Christ it not because they had the ability to choose Christ yet previously rejected him. Rather it is people choose Christ not because they made a choice but because they have been appointed by God to believe (Acts 13:48). While John usage of the term “lady and her children” may be strange its actually a pretty unique message in the since that we have married to Christ and now we know we are the elect people of God. Chosen to be found in him before time began.

The Truth of our Steadfastness.

Which brings me to my second observation which is the truth of our steadfastness. Not only does God call us some of his elect but he also knows that the truth of him and his word is with us forever and ever. Which is why our second observation found in verse 2 speaks of believers having assurance that the truth about God will be with us forever. Now what I am not saying is that a person may not go through doubt or that a person may not go through a season in life of questioning wether what they read in the Bible is true. As I have said in my introduction, that Christians are bombarded with all sorts of false information. Social media, the people we work with and what we see on TV. For some of us it may even the person next to you at Church. That is why it is important that we need to know that what we are saying is true because if not then it is too easy to be carried off into territories of doubt and unbelief. Thats great news though, because via John God gives us an assurance that the truth of Gods love found in Jesus Christ will always be with us. While we may go through doubt and or the temptation to doubt we know that some how some way God will hold us fast if we have truly believed the Gospel message. We also know this because as a cross reference we know form Romans 8:31–39 “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus …” So if you have believed in Jesus Christ, yet if some feeling of doubt or something else may be plaguing you go to Jesus because we know nothing can stop us from having his love.

The Truth in our Grace:

This brings us to our final observation which falls directly on top of our previous point, which is the truth of our grace. Look at what is says in verse 3 “Grace, mercy and peace WILL be with us from God the father and from Jesus Christ”. Now I love this because while our previous point assured that Gods truth will be with us forever, the next verses, verse 3, tells us that Gods grace, mercy and peace will be with us forever as well. Not only does he tell us that these graces with be will us but John also tells us that all three of these come directly from God and Christ himself. You could even take this observation and add a (s) at the end of the word Grace. That is because all of Salvation is a work of grace not of works. Not only is Salvation by grace and it is also accompanied with by mercy and peace which are all apart of God’s grace given to us in Christ Jesus. While this verse tells us that grace, mercy and peace will be with us from God it also tells us that it is done in truth and love according to that last half verse 3. It was done in truth as the reality of Jesus Christ is not some fairytale but rather it is the objective reality (2 Peter 1:16). Not has this great salvation been done in truth but it has also been done in love for us, and even love despite of us. Most of us don’t have to look very far to figure out how much of sinners we are. Yet it was the love of God that sent his son into this world so that we may be reconciled to God. I love what the expositor Karen H. Jobes said when concerning this topic “It is only through vicarious atonement that God can honor both his holiness, which demands punishment for sins, and his love for sinners. That vicarious atonement happened on the cross of Jesus Christ, the God man, and is God greatest expression of his love for us”. This leaves us with assurance that grace, mercy and peace has and will continue to come to us. And it has been done in the truth of Gods word and out of his everlasting love for us.” Amen!

Conclusion:

And because we have recieved this truth out of God’s love we can conclude 3 things from our observations this morning. While this mornings message was shorter than usual, as we go along we will see how truth and love is the central theme all throughout Johns 2nd epistle. So we first know that we as the Church are called the bride of Christ, and having that name it is because we have been elected by God for God. Secondly we also know that truth about God who he is and what he has done for us will be with us forever, because despite human reasoning and wacked out contradictions to Gods word, His word remains the same. Lastly we also know that we have the gift of grace, mercy and peace that flow directly from God to us in the sense that God reached out to us in love and in truth. Perhaps there may be some of in here who haven’t yet known the reality of God’s love or the free grace, mercy and peace that Jesus brings. Well if thats you, then God is calling you right now, this very hour, this very minuet, this very moment to come and believe in him and to be apart of his elected for all of eternity! Amen.