Address—C. Hendricks
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Last night we in the gospel we heard.
Of the one who speaks of himself as the truth.
I want to read these two short epistles.
Where we find this word repeatedly.
Second, John the Elder unto the elect Lady and her children, whom I love in the truth.
And not I only, but also all they that have known the truth.
For the truth's sake, which dwelleth in US and shall be with us forever.
Grace be with you, mercy and peace from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ the Son of the Father, in truth and love.
I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father.
And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another, and this is love, that we walk after His commandments. This is the commandment that, as you have heard from the beginning, he should walk in it.
For many deceivers are entered into the world who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an Antichrist. Look to yourselves that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.
Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God.
He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.
If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house.
Neither bid him godspeed.
For he that biddeth him Godspeed is partaker of his evil deeds.
Having many things to write unto you, I would not write with paper and ink, but I trust to come unto you and speak face to face, that our joy may be full.
The children of thy elect sister greet thee. Amen.
3rd John.
The elder unto the well beloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth.
Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health even as thy soul prosper.
For I rejoiced greatly when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth.
I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.
Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest, to the brethren and to strangers which have borne witness of thy charity before the Church.
Whom if thou bring forward on their journey after a godly sort, thou shalt do well.
Because that for his name's sake they went forth taking nothing of the Gentiles.
We therefore ought to receive such that we might be fellow helpers.
To the truth.
I wrote unto the Church, But diatrophies, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not. Wherefore if I come, I will remember his deeds, which he doeth, praying against us with malicious words, and not content therewith. Neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbideth them that would and casteth them out of the Church.
Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. Either doeth good is of God, but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.
Demetrius hath good report of all men and of the truth itself. Yeah, and we also bear record, and you know that our record is true.
I had many things to write, but I will not with ink and pen write unto thee. But I trust I shall shortly see thee, and we shall speak face to face.
Peace be to thee, our friends. Salute thee. Greet the friends by name.
These two epistles very short.
Supplement each other.
You've noticed in the reading of them the word truth occurs over and over again. You might say that second John is negative.
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And third, John is positive.
The key verse in.
The second epistle.
Is verse 10 if there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine.
Receive him not.
Into your house. Neither Bid him godspeed.
Second, John is a warning.
To this elect lady and her children and instruction as to how she should deal with those that come to her as as Christian teachers, but don't bring the doctrine of Christ. She's not to receive them.
It's a warning against enemies. Verse seven. Many deceivers are entered into the world. Deceivers and enemies, antichrists.
3rd John. The key verse is verse 8.
We ought therefore to receive such that we might be fellow helpers.
To the truth.
I'm pointing this out because if we are going to walk in the truth, we have to know who the enemies are and who the friends are. Notice how Third John ends Greet the friends by name. The friends are those whom we are to receive.
To welcome, to have fellowship with those that are deceivers and antichrists are those who are we. We are to refuse and to reject and not to receive.
Both of these epistles are written to individuals, the 1St to the elect Lady and her children.
In the line of responsibility in the family, the the husband is the most responsible and then the wife and then the children last.
So second John is written to a woman and her children.
If these epistles were written according to nature, 2 John would be addressed to the man.
And third, John would be addressed to the woman, but that's not the way it is.
Second, John is addressed to the woman, the one who has the least responsibility in the family.
No, the the children have the least.
I remember one time when I was working out in the garage and doorbell knock was on the front door and the two men engaged my young son in a conversation. I knew nothing about it and I came in. He said I had a nice talk with two Christians and I said let me see their literature.
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
And I smiled and I said, no, these were not friends, these were antichrists. And he was completely fooled because of the way they came across. He did not discern, he did not know. Well, second, John is written to the elect lady and her children, and each one of us should know enough truth so that we know who the enemy is when he appears.
Even the children.
In fact, if you turn back for a moment to the second chapter of First John, it's to the children.
Verse 18 through the family is broken up into fathers, young men and children, little children. And verse 18 he takes up the the little children in the family, and he says it is the last time, as you have heard, that Antichrist shall come. Even now are there many antichrists, whereby we know that it is the last time they went out from us. These antichrists, they were not of us.
For if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us. But they went out.
That they might be made manifest. That they were not all of us, or more correctly, that all were not of us.
But ye now he's writing to the children, the those in the family that are the most immature, he says. But ye have an unction.
From the Holy One.
And you know all things.
And that doesn't mean that the young ones in the family of God have an understanding of all the truth in the Bible, but they have the one who is the truth. Spirit of God is called the truth as well as the Lord Jesus is called the truth, and the Word is called the truth.
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They have the Spirit of God dwelling in them, and they have the word of truth to guide them.
So he says, I've not written unto you because you know not the truth, but because you know it.
And that no lies of the truth. You can't be in the family of God if you don't know the truth to some extent. And we have the one within us that is the truth. And it's about the one outside of us, the Lord Jesus, who is also the truth. And then he says, who's the liar? But he that denies Jesus is the Christ. He's Antichrist that denies the Father and the son. Well, let's go back to second John. I point that out to show that this instruction as.
Responsibility to know the true from the false is that of every.
Age group Everyone who is part of the family of God, whether you're young or not.
You need to know who Jesus is, and you need to know if someone comes and does not present a true Christ to you, that you don't open the door to such. You don't greet them, you don't fellowship with them, You recognize them for being.
Deceivers.
He rejoiced, John did second John No greatly, he says, when he found of thy children, he doesn't say they were all walking in the truth, but of thy children walking in truth.
As we have received a commandment from the Father.
Now I beseech you, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.
And then he defines what he's saying. This is love. You see, there's a pseudo love which is extant out there and Christendom where we're just to throw our arms around everyone and ignore what they're teaching and what their doctrine is and whether they're bringing the truth or not. And we're to receive them under the banner of Christian love. That's not what the Bible teaches. That's not what this epistle teaches.
It says we are to discern whether they're bringing the truth as to who the Lord Jesus is.
And if they're not, they're to be refused. This is love. He defines it, verse six, that we walk after his commandments. We walk in obedience.
This is the commandment that, as you have heard from the beginning, He should walk in it. For many deceivers are entered into the world who confess, not take the word that out. It's not the confession of a fact that Jesus Christ came in the flesh, but it's the confession of a person who came in the flesh.
You couldn't say then it would make no sense to speak of you and me coming in the flesh. That's the only way we could come. But here was one that existed before He came in flesh. John 114 says the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. In the beginning was the Word. There He was in the eternity past, and He created all things, brought all things into existence.
The the expression of the very mind of God, the Word. But then He became something that he was not before He became flesh. He became a man.
The Word became flesh. That's what this is saying. Jesus Christ come in flesh. This person that preexisted his coming in flesh as God the Son, He's come in flesh. He's no man. So this truth that we're responsible to hold, and whether you're a young one in the family or a young man or a child or a young man or a father, you're responsible to know who the Lord Jesus He is, God and man and one person.
That's the very rock foundation upon which the church is built.
Who say ye that I, the Son of Man, AM. And they said, well, there's some say that.
John the Baptist, or Elias, or Jeremiah, Sir, one of the prophets. And then the Lord said, Whom say ye that I have?
And Peter answered, Thou art the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God.
Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh, flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father, which is in heaven. I'm quoting from Matthew 16.
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And then he tells Peter that he had received this as a revelation from the Father.
You know who Jesus is because God has made it known to your soul that He is very God and very man. Truly God and truly man come in flesh. He came to where we were.
So that we might know God.
We could never know him. Had he remained in inscrutable deity, we could not have known him.
He had to come to where we were. He had to become one of us, a man flesh, the man Christ Jesus. There's one mediator between God and men. This go between this mediator has to be God so he could lay his hand on God, and he has to be a man so he could lay his hand on you and me.
One mediator, one connecting link between God and man. He came in the flesh.
The Word became flesh. That's what he's talking about.
And anyone that brings a doctrine that sullies either side of that truth, his deity or his humanity.
Is not bringing the doctrine of Christ the teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ?
So he says to this woman in verse eight, look to yourselves that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. She was, they were.
His children in the faith and if they didn't go on well then he would lose reward, he says.
Verse nine. Now whosoever transgresseth, the other translation that we use, reads whosoever goes forward. I remember talking to a theology professor. I was passing out tracks at the Howard Station in Chicago where you you change from the elevated to the subway.
And I was passing out tracks and I went in and sat down next to this teacher and.
He asked me what I believed, passed him a gospel tract, and he asked me what I believed, and I told him the fundamentals of the faith. I believe in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I believe in the divine inspiration of the Bible. I believe in the deity of Jesus Christ, who's God and man in one person. I believe in His death and resurrection. I believe in His coming again. I believe in the infallible inerrancy of the Scriptures. And I may have said some other things.
His sinless humanity.
And he smiled at me and he said that's nice, but now you have to go on to the deeper things.
That's what John is talking about here. Whosoever goes forward goes on to the deeper things. There is nothing deeper than the person and work of Christ. It's the foundation of our faith. Someone tries to lead you into deeper truth than what we have revealed to us here.
Be very wary and cautious because they're going to lead you into error. This man did not know the Lord.
He was occupied with his deeper truth, and that's what John is warning against. Whosoever transgresseth or goes forward and abides not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. This man did not know God.
He was a religious man. He was a religious instructor at that theological seminary, but he did not know God didn't have him.
He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. So we're to know who's real. How can you close the door on someone if you don't know that they are an Antichrist, a deceiver, a false prophet? They don't bring the doctrine of Christ, and you can tell by asking them a few basic questions.
Like the Lord asked the Pharisees, what thinking of Christ? Whose son is he?
They said the son of David. They were right, you know.
He was and is the son of David.
How then does David in spirit call him Lord, saying, The Lord said unto my right hand, sit thou at my footstool to make until I at my footstool to make the them enemies footstool of my feet?
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David call him Lord. How is he his son?
They couldn't answer him.
They did not understand the divine side of this person. They understood his human side. They understood he was the son of David, but that he was the Son of God.
They did not understand. This man did not understand that.
So we are to know who He is. He quoted from the 110th Psalm, which the Pharisees knew. They knew a lot of scripture and these men that come to your door peddling their false religion, they know a lot of scripture, but they don't know Him who is the truth.
They don't have it.
So he says, verse 10 If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine.
The truth as to who he is.
God and man in one person receive him not.
So here's instruction on whom they are. This woman is not to receive. Receive them. Not into your house. Neither did him. Godspeed. The reason I said earlier that you'd think this would be written to a man, because the man is the one that would.
By nature he would find it easier to close the door on someone like this, but it's written to the woman and the children.
They are too responsible to keep out error.
To keep out error.
He that biddeth him godspeed, he that greets him is a partaker of his evil deeds.
So we have instruction in this epistle whom we're not to receive. In order to know, we have to know who Jesus is, and we have to be able to discern and recognize error. We need to know the truth.
In order to reject error now in the next epistle, the third epistle, now over that second epistle, we should write God's light. God is holy.
His Holiness must be maintained over the third epistle. We should write God is love.
God is love, we have the affections of.
The Saints going out notice.
Verse one is beloved Gaius. Well, beloved Gaius.
Verse 5, beloved.
Thou doest faithfully.
The verse 11, beloved.
Follow not that which you see, but you don't get that word, beloved, in Second John. Second John has a much sterner tone to it. The enemy was being dealt with. Sometimes we hear it said, you know, we should just preach positive truth. I don't like that.
There's a lot of negative truth in Scripture. We need to know who we are to refuse and reject and not to receive, as well as whom we are to receive and commend. And in order to really be in the truth, we have to have both.
We have to have the negative side of rejecting the evil and the positive side of receiving.
And commending the good if we treat the good as though they were evil.
We make a serious mistake if we treat the evil as though they were good.
We make a serious mistake.
The elder unto the well beloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth. Now you'd think that the woman would be addressed here because she's the one that has no difficulty exercising hospitality. She chose her home, old one to visit her. She prepares for them, she sits them down, makes them feel comfortable, serves them some coffee or tea and and some cookies or whatever. But this is addressed to the man.
The man is not the one that is affectionate like the woman.
But hear it. So he's addressing Gaius, his well beloved, whom I love in the truth.
Yeah, beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health even as thy soul prospereth. For I rejoiced greatly when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee even as thou walkest in the truth. To walk in the truth is to reject evil and to commend good.
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Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but reprove them. That's negative. Absolutely essential truth, just as essential as the positive.
We need both.
To be in the truth.
I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk. In truth, every parent who has children knows what that is.
Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren and to strangers. I remember when I first went out in the work, I came to a lot of places where I'd never been before, and they were strangers to me, and I was pretty much a stranger to them. Maybe we'd see each other at a conference or so. Not always, but they received me as a friend.
There's not a word about friends in Second John.
Just a cautionary word against those who were enemies.
We have to know who's who our enemies are. We have to know who our friends are.
One of the greatest tricks in the military was that an enemy would kill a soldier and then change clothes with him and he would put that enemy soldiers on and he would infiltrate. He looked just like this army over here, but he was really from over here. He was an enemy.
And he did his work within and there's they're the ones that do the most damage to the cause of Christianity, those that pose as Christians, but they're not real. And so John tells us how we are to discern the difference between the enemy and the friends in the in the profession of Christianity.
So Gaius was hospitable.
He was one that opened his door and said come in, you're welcome, you're a friend. You bring the doctrine of Christ.
Verse six As which have borne witness of thy charity, thy love before the church, whom if thou bring forward on their journey after a godly sort, thou shalt do well. Gaius. He extended hospitality to these that came bringing the, the, the truth of God, and he welcomed them in and he took care of them, maybe gave them a bed for the night, and then sent them on their way.
And that's commended here because that for his namesake, they went forth taking nothing of the Gentiles. They weren't living off of the world. They weren't living off of those that didn't know the Lord. They were taking nothing of the Gentiles. They were being supported by the family of God. And that's the way it is, and that's the way it should be.
Not to be supported by the world, but by those who are friends.
Friends.
We therefore ought to receive such.
That we might be fellow helpers to the truth. So third John is dealing with friends and hospitality is in order, receiving is in order and.
Gaius recognized friends and he dealt with them as such, and this elect lady and her children had to recognize enemies and refuse fellowship with them.
So important.
I remember the Jehovah's Witnesses once came to Milwaukee.
And they went around the neighborhoods asking if people would take them in and house them while they had their campaign, their meetings. And there was a brother, sad to say a brother in the Lord, that took them in and housed them.
In direct violation of Second John, he treated them as though they were friends and they were not friends. They did not bring the doctrine of Christ. Very serious error.
Let's not make that mistake. We therefore, at verse eight in 3rd John, ought to receive such that we might be fellow helpers to the truth.
I wrote unto the church, but Diotrephes now here is here's a jarring note in this epistle, which is also sweet and beloved is mentioned over and over again. You don't get that word mentioned once in second John, but in 3rd John, it's it's the beloved that he's dealing with. But here is a here's a a note that's out of tune with the rest.
I wrote into the church, he says. But Diotrephes who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not. Now what is commended in 3rd John is to receive them. But here's one that wouldn't receive John. He wouldn't receive the even an apostle receiveth as not.
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He loves to have the preeminence, wherefore he says, if I come, I think the force there is when I come.
I will remember his deeds which he doeth, praying against us with malicious words, and not content therewith, neither does he himself receive the brethren, and forbideth them that would and casteth them out of the Church. This man had such power in that assembly that he would he had the power to cast some out of the church.
And again he talks to Gaius, he says, beloved follow not that which is evil. That's what Diatrophies was doing. He was following that which was evil he was treating.
Friends as enemies and casting them out.
Following that that which is evil, but that which is good, he that doeth good is of God. That he that doeth evil hath not seen God.
Now this is really a letter of commendation for Demetrius. Notice Demetrius have good report of all men and of the truth itself.
Yeah. And we also bear record that you know that our record and you know that our record is true.
I had many things to write. I will not with ink and pen. Write unto thee. Notice both of these epistles talk about not riding with the Lincoln pen, but face to face. That's one of the beauties of a conference weekend. Talk with one another face to face.
So these two epistles, you really don't you really don't have a full picture of what the truth is if you don't know our responsibility in in walking in the truth is to discern those who are not in the truth and reject them, don't receive them. Don't open your door to them. close your door upon them. They're Antichrist. They're enemies and those who are friends who bring the doctrine of Christ, who love the Lord and are going on.
In the truth.
Buried to receive them.
So it's important, isn't it?
I don't think you can take either one of these epistles by itself. They supplement each other.
You need both to get the full picture. Negative in second John, positive and 3rd John.
You see him not in second John, you see him.
In 3rd John, Enemies in second John, friends in 3rd John. While it's a beautiful picture and it came to me after Bob spoke of the truth last night to bring these scriptures before us that we might.
Even the youngest in the family might have the discernment. You know who's real?
Who know who brings the truth and who does not, and that conduct ourselves towards them accordingly.