Sermon Tone Analysis

INTRODUCTION

We have the wonderful privilege of looking at 2 John again this morning

Please take your Bibles and turn with me to 2 John

Today we’re concluding our study of this short letter to the “chosen lady and her children”

We’ve had a rich time in this letter these past two weeks and look forward to what God is going to show us today

We are looking today at verses 8-13

Verses 8-11 continues the concern John had concerning the deceivers, the gnostics, who were false teachers propagating their heresy on this dear lady and her children and many others

The remaining two verses, vv.12-13, is John’s desire to see the chosen lady and her children and a final greeting

John says in 2 John 1:8-13, “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.”

We live in a world that is becoming more and more hostile to Christ

In an article entitled, “Is Christianity to Blame for Everything Bad in the World, “ Jerry Newcombe writes:

Earlier this month in Philadelphia, there was the 17th annual "White Privilege Conference," which a friend describes as a "liberal confab devoted to self-abnegation (self-denial)."

One of the speakers, Paul Kivel, blamed Christianity for everything bad in the world.

Kivel is the co-founder of the Oakland Men's Project and founder of "the Challenging Christian Hegemony (leadership) Project."

So everything bad comes from Christianity?

Was Kivel born in a hospital or treated in one?

Kivel can thank Jesus Christ who inspired His followers to create such an institution.

St. Basil of Caesarea who lived in the 4th century is credited with creating the first hospital in the history of the world.

Even to this day, many hospitals bear Christian names, as they were founded to show forth Christian love.

I was born in St. Francis Hospital — as in St. Francis of Assisi.

Speaking of St. Francis, he is the name sake of the city across the bridge from Oakland, San Francisco.

Father Juniper Serro of the 18th century created a network of 21 Catholic missions — essentially a one-day horseback ride away from each other — from San Diego to Sonoma, essentially establishing California's cities.

Did Kivel go to school?

Education for the elite has always existed.

Education for the masses was a gift of Christianity to the world.

This is especially true after the Reformation.

The Reformers knew for their message to stick, people would have to read the Bible for themselves.

The first law for education in America was the "Old Deluder Satan Act" in Boston of 1642.

The goal was to teach boys and girls how to read for themselves so that they could read the Bible — thus, thwarting the attempts of that "old deluder Satan," who works hard to keep people from reading God's Word.

He is quite effective in our times, but not primarily through illiteracy.

Did Kivel go to college?

Again, he can thank the Christian church for that.

Scholars say the university was created by the church during the Middle Ages around 1200, with the University of Paris being the prototype.

One of the main goals was to reconcile Christian theology with the newly rediscovered teachings of Aristotle.

Most of the greatest universities the world over were founded by Christians for Christian purposes … Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Princeton, and so on.

Kivel blames Christianity for the wars in the Middle East.

It's all the missionaries' fault.

Huh?

I don't suppose Islam has anything to do with the wars in the Middle East.

Enough said.

Did Kivel use a microphone to blast the Christian church?

Did he have a lightbulb by which he could see his speech?

Christianity played a major role in the development of modern science.

While the ancient Greeks helped pave the way, modern science was born in the late Middle Ages by Christian experimenters who were, in the words of Johannes Kepler, "thinking God's thoughts after Him."

They believed a rational God had created a rational universe, and it was their role, said Kepler, as "priests of the most high God" to discover those laws.

As D. James Kennedy and I point out in our book, What If Jesus Had Never Been Born?, the founders of all the major branches of science were professed believers in Jesus.

Another irony about this story can be seen in one of the headlines about this story: "KIVEL SAYS CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP IS THE REASON FOR THE WORLD'S PROBLEMS."

Presumably, a conference dumping on "white privilege" might pay homage to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the greatest of the civil rights champions.

King was the president of the "Southern Christian Leadership Conference."

The church was the key launching pad for the whole civil rights movement.

King was a Baptist minister.

The classic "I have a dream" speech by King was essentially a sermon by a Baptist minister, in which he quotes Isaiah.

"I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low."

In short, the humble shall be exalted; the proud shall be humbled.

Who is out there feeding many of the down and out of our society?

The Christian church through one agency or another.

They are showing the love of Jesus in action.

One thing Kivel did say is correct: Christianity does not teach that the earth is to be worshiped.

To the contrary, the Creator of the earth is alone to be worshiped.

But humans are stewards of the earth — not to abuse it but to subdue the earth.

Kivel wants a world without Christian influence.

Humanity has done that before.

It was called the Soviet Union.

It was called Pol Pot's Cambodia.

They brought hell on earth.

To paraphrase C.S. Lewis, if Jesus had never come, it would be "always winter, but never Christmas."

https://www.christianpost.com/news/is-christianity-to-blame-for-everything-bad-in-the-world.html

The sad reality of this article is many more people like Paul Kivel feel the same

But the Bible teaches that the bad things we see and experience in the world is because of sin

When Adam and Eve fell in the Garden of Eden, sin entered them and the world they lived in

Genesis 6:5-7, “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.

The Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.””

He did that by flooding the earth with water but saved 8 people in an Ark

And even though 8 people were saved from God’s judgment, that did not wipe out sin

The Bible says in Romans 3:10-18, “as it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one; There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one.”

“Their throat is an open grave, With their tongues they keep deceiving,” “The poison of asps is under their lips”; “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness”; “Their feet are swift to shed blood, Destruction and misery are in their paths, And the path of peace they have not known.”

“There is no fear of God before their eyes.””

So the evil we see today in the world is driven by man’s depravity and by Satan, who has blinded mens eyes from the gospel of Christ (2 Corinthians 4:4)

Satan’s work is to prevent people from turning to the biblical Jesus

So he sends his ministers to do his bidding by preaching “another gospel” (Galatians 1:6-7)

That’s why there are people who think Jesus was just a good person or a good teacher or even a prophet but not God in human flesh

John shared his concern about the “many deceivers” who “have gone out into the world” in verse 7

And now in verses 8-11, we’re going to learn what he says about discerning who they are

What does he tell us about these “deceivers”?

And what should you do first in identifying them?

John says discernment begins by...

LESSON

I.

By Watching Yourself (v.8)

Don’t be mislead by them

Remember they are deceivers and antichrists (v.7)

They have “wandered” from the truth

This led them to leave the church and go out into the world (v.7)

1 John 2:19, “They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us.”

1 John 4:5, “They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them.”

1 John 4:6, “We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us.