Walk In It

We're starting a new series of teaching today in Second John. So, open to near the end of your Bible, to Second or Third John.

Amen. Good morning! Would you mind standing up this morning with us? Please take out your Bibles today, and we're going to open them to the book of Second John. If you don't have a Bible, you can raise your hand, and one of our ushers will bring you one. Second John is very near the end of the Bible, so open up to the very last book, Revelation, and turn just a little bit to the left. You will find Second John. It happens to be right after First John and just before Third John.

So, Second John, chapter 1, because there's only one chapter. We'll pick it up at verse 1. In Second John, verse 1, we read: "The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all those who have known the truth, because of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever. Grace, mercy, and peace will be with you from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love. I rejoiced greatly that I have found some of your children walking in the truth, as we received commandment from the Father.

And now I plead with you, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment to you, but that which we have heard from the beginning, that we love one another. This is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment that, as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it.

Father, as we open the Scriptures today, we pray for wisdom that is from above. We pray that You, by Your Spirit, would open our hearts and our minds to understand and comprehend this text of Scripture. Not only to understand the sense of it and the meaning of it, but, God, that You would also speak through it to us. You have applications You desire to do in and through our lives through Your Word and by the working of Your Spirit. God, use Your Word to continue that work of transformation that begins first in our hearts.

Minds and in our hearts, and then in our lives, that our lives would display this week what is your good and perfect will. That it would be evident that we have your word and your love abiding in us richly. So, God, do work in us. We ask this in Jesus' name, and all those that agreed said, "Amen." You may be seated.

For more than ten years now, we have been working our way through the New Testament of the Bible every Sunday as we gather together. We began back in the end of 2008 with the Book of Acts, which is the history book of the New Testament. It covers about the first thirty years of Christian history after the Ascension of Jesus into heaven. It follows the life and ministry of the early church.

As that history book progresses over the chronology of thirty to thirty-five years, many other New Testament books are written—letters predominantly written to individuals and letters written to churches. We have the letters to various churches like the Galatians and the Romans, and so forth. Each of those falls at a certain point in the timeline of the Book of Acts.

Since 2008, we have studied through the New Testament chronologically until we finished the Book of Acts, which we did about four years ago. We have continued to work our way through the New Testament text chronologically, wherever those books would fall, written by the Apostles of the church. Our chronological study now brings us to probably what are the very last letters, the last works of the New Testament.

These two small letters of John's—2nd and 3rd John—were probably written around the same time. When we look at the content matter and examine them together over the next few weeks, we will see that they are fairly similar. They were no doubt written from the same place and likely by the same person, and for very close to the same audience.

These two short letters were probably written from Asia Minor, which is modern-day Turkey. If you think about the Mediterranean Sea and then to the northwest of the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, that whole area of land between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea is the modern nation of Turkey, where the Ottoman Empire existed for many centuries. In the southwestern part of Turkey is this...

A little part of the area called Asia Minor is where these letters were probably written, most likely from the city of Ephesus. If you've read through the New Testament, the name Ephesus sticks out because in Acts chapters 18 and 19, the Apostle Paul went to the city of Ephesus. He preached the gospel there, and a church was established. It became one of the most influential churches of the early church. From the church at Ephesus, other churches were planted.

When you read the very last book of the Bible, Revelation, especially chapters 2 and 3, there are seven different cities and seven different churches in each of those cities that are mentioned. One of them is the city of Ephesus, but the other six cities, like Smyrna, Pergamus, Thyatira, and Philadelphia, each of those churches were probably planted out of the church at Ephesus. It had real influence, and Paul the Apostle spent a lot of time there. He wrote a letter called the Book of Ephesians to the church at Ephesus.

After he died, there was a man named Timothy who spent a great deal of time there, probably pastoring the church. Of course, before Paul died, he sent two letters to Timothy, First and Second Timothy. Both of those were written to the church at Ephesus that Timothy was overseeing. Now, many years later, after Paul has died—probably about thirty years later—John is living out the last days of his life in the city of Ephesus.

These two letters, Second and Third John, were probably written from that city in about the year 92 to 95 AD. It is believed by most commentators and scholars that these two letters were written by a man named John, a very familiar individual in the New Testament. Of course, any time you come to a letter in the New Testament, there are critical commentaries on whether or not the authorship is correct, and that's the case with these two letters. Some people wonder if John was really the author of them, but when you look at the internal and external evidence, it's very likely they were written by him.

In the middle part of the second century, just about sixty years after these letters were probably written, Irenaeus, one of the very influential church fathers, wrote about these two letters along with First John. He said that they were written by the Apostle John. The early church had them bound together as one unit of work: First, Second, and Third John. These letters were widely distributed and highly regarded by the church, probably written by this guy John, who also wrote the Gospel of John and is also the penman of the Book of Revelation.

Revelation. When we read through the New Testament, a lot of it was written by Paul. The largest section after that was written by Luke, and then John. John writes the Gospel of John, as well as 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John, and Revelation. We spent 21 weeks going through 1st John, and we will see that some of the content in 2nd John and 3rd John is somewhat similar. This shows that they are united in that sense.

If you weren't with us through all 21 weeks, there are 21 hours of audio that you can listen to at double speed online, and you'll get through it really quickly. No problem! Your head may hurt, but it'll be just fine.

So, who is this guy John? We've talked about him before, but it's worth going back and considering who he was. John was one of the earliest followers of Jesus. He had been following Jesus for more than six decades when he wrote this letter. He probably began following Jesus when he was in his teenage years, maybe as young as 15 years old. Some commentators believe he was the younger brother of a man named James and the son of a man named Zebedee. He was from the part of the world that we know as Israel today.

John grew up on the Sea of Galilee, probably in the town of Capernaum. If you've read through Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, you've heard of Galilee and Capernaum. You may even remember the name Zebedee. As a young man of 15, John was taking on the profession of his father, which was typical of the time, 2,000 years ago. If your father was a fisherman, his father was probably a fisherman, and you would be a fisherman as well. You knew your lot in life very early on.

He grew up there on the Sea of Galilee and understood the trade. He was moving in that direction with his brother James. They were partnered with two other brothers, a guy named Andrew and his brother Simon, who we know as Peter. At one point, a rabbi from a city not too far away from Galilee, kind of the outer reaches, if you will, the suburbs of Galilee, came through. This town was Nazareth.

This rabbi began to teach, and these guys took to his teaching. All they could talk about was his teaching, and they were listening to his podcast constantly. Finally, one day, that rabbi, Jesus, said, "Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." So, they followed Jesus. When we come to John at this point, he has been walking with Jesus for many years.

With Jesus for over sixty years, John began following Him as the youngest of the disciples. As you read through the Gospels, you find that he was probably one of the closest disciples to Jesus. He stayed right next to Jesus to learn as much as he possibly could. In fact, in one of the Gospels, he is referred to five times as "the disciple whom Jesus loved." John wrote that about himself, so I don't know if you can exactly get away with that. This is found in the Gospel of John, where he refers to himself in this way. It's kind of like I saw a bumper sticker years ago that said, "Jesus loves you, but I'm His favorite." That's kind of what John is saying in that whole thing.

He also tells us in the Gospel of John that after the news came to the disciples, specifically to Peter and John, that the tomb was empty, a group of Jesus's female followers had gone to the tomb early on that Resurrection Sunday. They saw that the tomb was empty and came back to report it. It says that Peter and the disciple whom Jesus loved ran to the tomb, but the disciple whom Jesus loved outran Peter. So, there's that.

The Gospels also clue us in to the fact that John was the only one of the twelve apostles who was on the mountain called Golgotha, or Calvary, when Jesus was crucified. He was the only one of the twelve who saw Jesus on the cross with his own eyes. What's interesting about that, in John chapter 19, verses 26 and 27, is that while he was there on Calvary, Jesus spoke to John from the cross and effectively commissioned him to take care of His mother, Mary, the earthly mother of Jesus. It's likely that by the time Jesus was on the cross, her husband Joseph had already died, and so she was probably a widow. Jesus said to John, "Behold your mother." Church tradition holds that John took care of Mary until the day she died, and she probably died in the city of Ephesus, where John ultimately died as well.

When he wrote his letters, John was the last living apostle. Bartholomew, Thomas, Peter, Andrew, and James had all died, most of them by martyrdom. Peter was crucified.

Andrew was also crucified. James, the brother of John, had been run through with a spear and killed. So, all of the followers of Jesus, all the early apostles, were dead. John is the only one who is still alive, and he is up in age. It is approaching the end of the first century, and these letters were written because, as the first century was finishing out, the church was now almost 70 years old. There was already false teaching beginning to creep into the church, which is exactly what Jesus said would happen. He told his disciples that after his departure, there would be ones who would come in and spread false teaching.

We read about that in His predictive passages of Scripture, both in the Sermon on the Mount and in another passage called the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24 and 25. He said there would be false Christs and false prophets, and the early church understood this. Paul even spoke about it when he addressed the leaders of the church at Ephesus. It is recorded in Acts chapter 20 that he said, "I know that after my departure, savage wolves are going to come in, and they are not going to spare the flock," referring to the church.

They expected and anticipated that false teachers would come in. When John is writing this letter, he is responding to what he sees in the church: false teaching and false teachers. Heresy starts to take root around 90 to 95 AD and really flowers into full bloom about 60 years after John dies, in the mid-second century AD. There would be individuals we refer to as the church fathers who seek to deal with this, such as Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Clement of Rome. All these different figures are addressing the false teaching.

When you read through church history books or hear Christians talk about the Council of Nicaea, the Apostles' Creed, or the Nicene Creed, all of these were written in response to the false teaching that John was seeing and writing about. The seeds of that false teaching had probably been planted about 30 to 40 years before John noticed it. Paul even refers to it when he wrote his letter to the church at Colossae, in the book of Colossians, where we see some hints of this false teaching beginning to infiltrate the church.

So, John is responding to this false teaching called Gnosticism, and the bulk of that response is in the letter that we just read, First John.

After some period of time, perhaps weeks or even a year or two later, John still sees that there is a problem. He writes these last two short letters as an exhortation to the Christians and churches of his day to continue to walk in the truth and to remain obedient to the commands of Scripture. This will be the focus of these two very brief letters, which are only about 300 words in their original Greek. They consist of just one chapter in our Bible, so we won't spend five months on them as we did with First John, although I probably could. However, I won't, as we don't have that much time.

I am calling this series "Outtakes" because these letters are kind of the outtakes of the New Testament. When we finish this, we will have completed our journey through the New Testament. In the coming months, we will likely look at some material in the Old Testament. John has some final practical exhortations to the church in Second John and to an individual who is a leader in the church in Third John.

As the backdrop, let’s look at Second John, verse 1. It says, "The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth, and not only I, but also all those who have known the truth, because of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever."

I’m not sure if you noticed a word that is mentioned quite a bit in this passage; it appears at least three times. John speaks of those whom he loves in the truth, who know the truth, and because of the truth. He wants us to understand where he is going with this letter.

He begins by saying "the elder." It was customary in the first century to put your name at the beginning of a letter. In our time, it is common to start with "Dear so-and-so," placing the recipient's name at the beginning. However, 2,000 years ago, when you wrote a letter, you would announce yourself at the start. Paul does this in virtually every one of his letters. When you read through Ephesians, Galatians, or Philippians, the first words are almost always "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God."

The author of this letter does something similar, though he does not use his name. He simply says "the elder," which indicates to us at least a...

A couple of things: one, the recipients of this letter had a relationship with the author. They knew exactly who he was. When he says "the elder" as he announces himself in this way, it indicates to us that there was some form of an intimate relationship with the author and the recipients of this letter. He simply says "the elder."

Another indication about this is just who he is in his age. At this point in time, he is probably the oldest person in the church in that area. He no doubt is the person of faith in that area. As he writes to Christians and to the church in southwestern Turkey and Asia Minor at the end of the first century, they all knew who he was. If there was an apostle of Jesus Christ, one of the first followers of Jesus Christ, living in and around the place you lived, you knew who he was. So, he could simply say "the elder."

Then he addresses the letter to "the elect lady and her children." Now, as becomes very clear when you begin a deeper dive into the study of the Bible, certain things in the Scriptures have varied interpretations. The Bible is what is referred to as an exegetical text, which means that it is a work that requires critical interpretation. When you open the Scriptures, there are many things that are very clear and don't require a lot of thinking to understand what they mean.

When the Bible says things like "thou shalt not lie," it is straightforward. There are some people who think that we really need to try and parse the word "lie," but really, I think we all get it: "thou shalt not lie," "thou shalt not commit adultery." Those sorts of things are clear, and we can say, "Okay, I get it."

This has led many Bible teachers to say that the main things of Scripture are the plain things of Scripture, and the plain things of Scripture are the main things of Scripture. I think there is a lot of truth to that. There is plenty in the Bible, the 66 books of Revelation, that anyone can read, comprehend, and understand the application of it.

However, there are certain things that we come to that require some levels of interpretation. You have to dig into the context of the time and the setting in which it was written to understand what is being said. These seven words that begin this salutation to "the elect lady and her children" are a passage that has invited all kinds of commentary from commentators and all kinds of speculation about who is being addressed and who the elder is writing to.

There have been three common interpretations among commentators for many years regarding who the elect lady and her children are. Some people think the elect lady is an actual woman, and some have even gone so far as to give her a name, suggesting that her name was Kyrie. The reason they say that is because the word "lady" in Greek is "Chi Rhea." It’s as if John is saying to the elect Chi Rhea, "I have a letter for you and for your kids."

Another interpretation is that John is writing to an unnamed woman and her family, and maybe that is the case. However, the most common view, which I would hold to, is that when John writes to the elect lady and her children, he is writing to a church—poetically, a general church. The elect lady represents a church, and her children are all the individual members of that church.

It is very likely that this is exactly what John is saying in this passage, and there are many reasons why commentators believe this. The biggest reason is found in the very last verse of the letter. If you look down to verse 13, you will see how he closes this letter. He says, "The children of your elect sister greet you." It’s as if John is saying, "Listen, I’m writing to the church." He doesn’t specifically identify who the church is; he simply refers to the elect lady and to all the individual members of that church—her children—and mentions another church, your elect sister, and all her children, the members of that church, who are sending their greetings.

Of course, there are varied interpretations about this, and sometimes it is the discussion of those interpretations that causes people to get stuck on phrases like "the elect lady and her children." People start to write long dissertations on why John did not clearly identify if it is a church. Why didn’t he clearly say, "to the church in northwest Ephesus"? There are pages of commentary about why John would phrase it this way. Many people suggest that at this time, there was persecution upon the church in that area, so John may not want to clearly identify who he is writing to in order to keep it coded and hidden. However, when we get into 3 John, he directly identifies Gaius, saying, "I’m writing to Gaius," which probably doesn’t answer the question of why he does this in 2 John.

Polite and politically correct, the fact is there are certain things in Scripture that we know, but we don't know the why. Any answer that we give is mere speculation. We just have to say that we don't know why John did this. One day, when you meet John in heaven, you can ask him, "What was the point of all of that?" However, we have to be careful not to get stuck on things that are like a speed bump. As the old saying goes, we miss the forest for the trees. We miss what it is that John is wanting to teach from this passage to the elect lady and her children, to the body of Christ.

So, what is the more important thing that we need to zero in on? He writes, "The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth." Not only do I love you, but also all of those who have known the truth. Point number one on your sermon guide: those who know the truth of God will genuinely love those who also know the truth. John says, "I love you, you elect lady and your children, you church and all the individual members there." Not only do I love you, but all of those who know the truth love you as well.

This leads to a very simple point, but it invites a couple of questions. The first question is: What is the truth of God? Those who know the truth of God will genuinely love those who also know the truth. What is the truth? In answering the question of what the truth is, we have to acknowledge right off the bat that the truth is not a weapon. The Gospel of John makes that really clear in John chapter 14, where Jesus' words are written in red. He says in verse 6, "I am the truth."

When we come to the concept of the truth of God in the Scriptures, we need to recognize that it's not a thing; it's a person, and Jesus is the truth. The opening of the Gospel of John, chapter 1, verse 14, states that God became flesh in the man Jesus Christ, and we beheld His glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. A few verses later, in John chapter 1, verse 17, it says that the law came to humanity, to the nation of Israel specifically, through Moses, but grace and truth came to us by Jesus.

Christ, so Jesus is the personification of truth. John makes the point here in this passage that all of those who know the truth—not just information, but know Him who is the truth, the One who is full of grace and truth—will, by the mere fact that they are in a relationship with the One who is the truth, genuinely love those who also know the truth.

But that brings up the second question: What does it mean to love in truth or to genuinely love? We actually spent quite a bit of time thinking about this and talking about it in the study of First John, because First John talks a lot about loving one another, walking in love, and extending this genuine love to other people. When you start to really dig into it, you find that to love someone genuinely, or to love in truth, is to love in accordance with what that love truly is.

I think the best description of that is found in First Corinthians chapter 13, verses 4 through 7, where we are given indications or instruction about the characteristics of genuine love. Paul, in First Corinthians 13, says that love is patient, it is kind, it is not jealous or boastful or proud. It is not rude, it does not demand its own way, it is not irritable, it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice in injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. It never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures every circumstance.

So, genuine love, as we find it revealed in the Scriptures, is not merely sentimental; it is devotional and practical. Genuine love is demonstrated through selfless kindness and humility. When you come into a relationship with Jesus, you know the truth that is Jesus. Then God begins to do a work in you and in me, and we begin to love those who also know the truth with this kind of love that is patient, kind, not rude, and not irritable because of the work that God does in us.

Why will we love in this way? Well, look at what John says in the very next statement here in Second John, chapter 1: "The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love."

In the truth, not only I but also all those who know the truth will love in this way because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever. What is the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever? Well, of course, it's Jesus.

So, why will we love those who know the truth? Point number two on your outline: Christ in me produces genuine love for others. We've considered this quite a bit already because this truth is revealed by Paul's words to the Galatians in Galatians chapter 5, verse 22, which says, "The fruit of the Spirit is love." The evidence that God's Spirit, the Spirit of truth, resides in me is the production of love in my life. This love is not just sentimental; it is not merely verbal affirmations of love. It is practical, demonstrable, and shown in my life through patience, kindness, humility, and not being rude or irritable.

All the things that 100% describe Myles the Benedictus—well, maybe not every way, and maybe not even in some ways—it totally doesn't describe me at all in and of myself. Yet, it is produced in me and in you by the Spirit of God. Christ in us produces genuine love. This genuine, practical, devotional love is generated in us by the Spirit of God according to the gospel of grace. God makes it possible for you and for me to love in a way that is kind and patient with people, with those who are nearest to us in the body of Christ, and with those who may not be a part of the body of Christ but are our neighbors.

The Scripture says to love our neighbors, and even beyond our neighbors, we are to love those whom we might regard as enemies, or who might regard us as such. We are to love with this kind of love; that's what the Scriptures teach. I don't have the ability in and of myself to do that, but God enables us to do that. Because the Spirit of God enables us, and the fruit of the Spirit is love, I have a call from God—which John is going to address in this passage—to walk in that love. That means I need to work at it.

Love, our God in Christ Jesus, has worked that love in us by giving us the Spirit of Truth, and now we need to work it out. Paul says it like this in Ephesians chapter 5, verse 1: "Be imitators of God as dear children and walk in love." To imitate God is to love others in the way that He has loved us. He says, "I've given you this love, but you need to now work it out."

This brings up one of my favorite verses in the whole Bible, Philippians 2:12 and 13: "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to do His good pleasure." This is the great mystery of the gospel: that God is working in us and calling us to responsibly work those things out. One of the things that John is saying to the churches as he ends his ministry and comes to the end of his life is that we need to walk in love and work this out.

He continues in 2nd John, verse 3: "Grace, mercy, and peace will be with you from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love." When we begin to comprehend and understand the gospel, we find point number three: we have and will continue to enjoy grace, mercy, and peace from God in Christ. This is one of the great joys of fully understanding the gospel of Scripture. Through Jesus, because of God's great love for us, you and I have already been given grace, mercy, and peace, and we will continue to enjoy that grace, mercy, and peace because of the love of God and the finished work of Jesus on the cross.

Now, if you've been around the Bible for a while, this is not new to you. You've heard this many times before, but this truth is one of those that needs to be often repeated. It needs to be meditated upon, and we need to remember it because there are so many things that can discourage us from realizing the fullness of the grace, mercy, and peace that we have from God. One of the things that can discourage us is our own sinful actions. We can start to think that we have to do something to get grace, mercy, and peace from God, but it's fully given to us, and we will continue to enjoy it in Christ.

But it begs the question: just what is this?

Grace, mercy, and peace are gifts that we have from God in Jesus Christ. Grace is receiving a gift that we don't deserve. The gift that we don't deserve is salvation, forgiveness, and redemption—wonderful things that the Apostle Paul writes about in Ephesians chapter 1. We have been richly given these gifts in Jesus Christ: adoption, an inheritance, redemption, and forgiveness of sins. These things are according to God's grace.

By grace, we have been saved through faith, and that not of ourselves; it is the gift of God. It is an undeserved gift. Mercy, on the other hand, is not receiving what we do deserve—judgment because of our sin and disobedience. We deserve the punishment of a holy and righteous God, but God, in His mercy, because He is rich in mercy, has not given us what we do deserve.

Because we have received the gift that we did not deserve—grace—and we have not received the judgment that we do deserve—mercy—we can now have peace with God. This peace is a restful assurance of our position with God, not based upon our works but upon His finished work. These three things—grace, mercy, and peace—are given to us by God through Christ Jesus. John says they are given to us in truth and in love.

What exactly does it mean that they are given to us in truth and love? I could be reading into this, but I think it is true nonetheless. I would say it like this: you cannot have the grace of salvation and the freedom from judgment and punishment through God's mercy, along with the peace that these things bring, apart from God the Father and outside of Jesus, His Son, and independent of the truth and the love of the gospel.

There is a certain way in which I think that Christians who have been reading through the Scriptures for any length of time comprehend the love of God in the gospel. The gospel is the demonstration of God's love. God demonstrated His love towards us in that while we were still sinners, far from God, Jesus died for us (Romans 5:8). Therefore, we probably understand grace, mercy, and peace given to us from God in Jesus Christ because of love.

The gospel is the demonstration of love, but what about this aspect of truth? We kind of comprehend the idea of love, but what does it mean to receive it in truth? These two concepts are important, and I think they are inseparable. We need to comprehend just what is meant here.

The aspect of truth is something we need to recognize and understand. I believe you will not willingly accept and receive the gospel of God, the love of God revealed in the gospel, until you accept the truth revealed by the gospel. You will not willingly accept and receive the love of God in the gospel until you understand and accept the truth of God revealed by the gospel.

What is the truth of God revealed by the gospel? It is my condition: sinful and lost. I think there are a lot of people in this world, even today, who would not be so against receiving the love of God. That concept might even be very inviting to them, but they reject the truth of the gospel. What is the truth of the gospel? It is your sinful condition and your lost state.

Many people do not want to admit or accept that they are lost and sinful because of disobedience. Most people we interact with, and probably we ourselves before we received the gospel, would have said, "I'm a pretty good person. I'm way better than that other person." We have to come to the place where we recognize our need and our sinful condition before we can fully receive the gospel of God and the love of God.

The truth of your condition, the need that you have, must be accepted. When the truth of God is shunned and the love of God is rejected, then the grace of God is of no effect. These two—truth and love—together are inseparable. If you want the love of God and the forgiveness of God according to His love, you have to accept and confess your sinful need and accept the truth of the gospel. Some people are unwilling and unable to do this, but when a person does, it brings great joy and rejoicing when they walk in this truth.

Look at what John says in 2 John, verse 4: "I rejoiced greatly that I have found some of your children."

Who are the children of the elect lady? They are individual members of the church. John says, "I have rejoiced greatly that I found some of those individual members of your church walking in the truth, as we received commandment from the Father." God the Father has commanded us to walk in the truth.

Now, I plead with you, lady church. I beg you not as though I wrote a new commandment to you, but that which we have had from the beginning: that we love one another. This is love, that we walk according to His command. What is this commandment? It is to walk in truth and to walk in love. John is telling us here that this is the commandment that, as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in.

There is so much in verses four through six, but I think I just have to boil it down to a simple statement: point number five on your outline. We honor God by walking in the truth as we love one another. John is looking at a church that is being bombarded by false views, false truths, and fake news, if you will. They are being bombarded by false gospels and false teaching that, if accepted, would lead them astray from walking in the truth and from walking in love.

John's final exhortation to the church is this: I plead with you, Church, walk in the truth. Walk in love. Fulfill these commandments of God. As you walk in the truth, it will be evidenced in your life that you are walking in love.

What does it mean to walk in love? It means to demonstrate this love that is described in First Corinthians chapter 13 towards those who are nearest to you, those who also know the truth, and those who may be a little bit outside that circle—those who are neighbors and, beyond that, those who may be enemies.

At this point, any person who is honestly listening to this is going to object and say, "Now listen, Pastor, I get it. All the people in your life are super lovely, but you just don't understand. I have some really difficult people in my life, and I don't know if I have the ability to love these unlovely people and to be kind and patient and not irritable with them. You've got really easy people to love, Pastor, but not me. You don't know these people that I have to love; they are very unlovely."

On this point, I think Jesus gave us...

Something simple to remind us of love given selflessly to the unlovely is what we refer to as a sacrament. Taking a little piece of bread and a little cup of juice helps us remember His body that was broken for us and His blood that was shed for us. This shows just how much He loved the unlovely. He demonstrated His love towards us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

When we object and say, "I just don't know that I can love this unlovely person in the way you're calling me to love them," God, through Jesus, would say, "Well, I am abiding in you by My Holy Spirit, and I want you to remember how I loved you."

We are going to finish our service today by partaking of communion, the bread and the cup that Jesus gave to us, His followers, His church, to remember His body that was broken for us and His blood that was shed for us. This demonstrates love for the unlovely.

As the worship team comes up and as the bread and the cup are being distributed, I want us to think about this reality: God loved you when you were unlovely, and God in you will enable you to love the unlovely. As we walk in the truth, God wants us to walk in love to those who are nearest to us and those who are far out as well.

I think that what our culture needs to see is the love of God displayed in the church. As we will see next week, as we continue through 2nd John, love is never devoid of truth. These two are inseparable; they go together. Our culture tells us that we need to set aside the truth in favor of love, but we will see that is not the case. Truth and love are united together.

I know there are some people who object, asking, "Does that mean that we don't speak the truth?" No, we speak the truth in love. But first, we need to understand how much God loved us when we were unlovely so that we can reach out to love those who are unlovely.

Does anybody here know anyone who is unlovely? You don't have to raise your hand. God, we thank You for Your grace towards us. I pray that even now, as we prepare our hearts for communion, You would remind us of Your love for us and the greatness of it. God, do a work by Your Spirit as we remember this and think on this, that Your love would compel us.

To reach out with love to others and to walk in the truth, and to walk in love for Your glory and for the good of the Gospel, in Jesus' name.