Letters of John, 2 John 10-13 False Teachers

Okay, let's read I think verses 7 through 9 to end the 2nd Thessalonians on. For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ's coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Look to yourselves that we don't lose those things that we work for and that you may receive a full reward. Whosoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. And he who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. Now to today's verses.

If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him in your house nor greet him. For he who greets him shares in his evil deeds. Having many things to write to you, I did not wish to do so with paper and ink, but I hope to come to you and speak face to face that our joy may be full. The children of your elect sister greet you. Amen.

We need a new muffler, we need to go to the repair shop. I'm not driving my Mustang anymore, so the muffler you don't have to do. I love that muffler. It's impacted by the way. Am I clearer now in the field? Yes. Yes, well, thanks to Bill Spickman. Thanks, Bill.

Deceivers who did not confess Jesus Christ who Christ himself has come in the flesh are about us, beware. I mean, they were there then, they're here today. So, no surprise, right? And I think we basically in context understand these are people within or close to the body. This is not the world system out there. And I think we can clearly recognize the difference between the two.

And I think that's important in terms of the interpretation of the verses we're going to cover today. The second thing is our reward, which is an eternal reward, relates to abiding in the doctrine. And what's the doctrine? It's the biblical teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. So that's the Bible, basically. The doctrine of Christ is New Testament truth. And that's what we're here to study every week. Any other thoughts or comments about... Yes, Jim, go ahead. I've got a question. This is just off the record. It probably doesn't relate to much of it at all. Is ultra-dispensationalism false teaching? Why are you bringing it up in relationship to ultra-dispensationalism? Is ultra-dispensationalism false teaching? Is that part of the false teaching?

Roger is shaking his head. He's not quite sure. Roger, do you want to comment on that? Well, it's sort of when the church began. We believe typically the church enacts at Pentecost. They believe it started later, and I've actually forgotten. Maybe Roy can comment when they believe the church began, but it's centered somewhat about that, and there's some other things that it takes into account, too. Some multidisciplinary conversation was believed to start in the 9th century. and others all the way, they don't even know. I've never heard of this position. Roy, do you want to comment?

Yeah, the ultra-dispensationalism that I understand to be in a general way restricts you to just the Pauline epistles and the church age as being what you teach. And that's for us. All the others are just examples, but it takes an extreme position saying you don't even look at the Old Testament. You just stay with Pauline letters. Well, again, the entire Word of God is for us, but it's not about us, right? So the whole Bible is for us. The principles of God from Genesis to Revelation are continuously and redundantly revealed.

But in terms of what's about us, we're New Testament saints in the Church. I mean, I've not heard this ultra If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him. Okay, so that first part of the verse, if anyone comes as a first-class conditional and the mood is indicative, it means it's facts, that means they're going to be coming. So don't be surprised that these people can be among us or come to us in whatever venue, in whatever location.

So what doctrine? What doctrine are we talking about here? Does that bring this doctrine? What doctrine? It goes back to verse 9, right? Jesus Christ. The doctrine is the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is through him, himself, and the gospel account, but also mostly through the epistles. All the epistles, right?

Not the ultra-dispensational view of the world that we just mentioned. Alright, so how do we know? if anyone comes to us and doesn't bring this doctrine. How do we perceive this? Again, keep in mind this is someone close to the body. This is not the world system outside. They're easily recognized.

Well sometimes, and actually it's happened here, sometimes people will come and they will say, I believe this or that, or I'm, actually we've had an ultra-dispensationalist at Holly Hills, historically. And he fellowshiped with us for a long time, and I know Hal talked with him a lot, I'm not going to mention his name, but anyway. And we tried to, you know, and he stayed with us, and you know, we didn't, you know, anyway. So typically, and we've had some people come and they have their idea of what they, you know, what's that?

They have an agenda. They have an agenda and they want to pass out by literature about what I believe. And you say, well, no, I don't think we would like you to know. So we've come across people that have other agendas. Typically over time they leave. So are these people unsaved then?

Not necessarily. They seem to be saved but they want to showcase their agenda and they are looking for I hate to say it, but they're looking for a place that will accept them and showcase them. And we say, no, we're not about showcasing you. We're about showcasing the Lord Jesus. So typically those people have left over time.

And we're thankful that because we're strongly into God's Word and we're not weak. If you're weak in God's Word and you're taken in by other people, that's not a good situation. I think Paul calls us to as rightly dividing the word of truth. Now that could almost be cultish, couldn't it? Because you think you have the right to be rightly dividing the word of God. So maybe that's the ultra-distanciation. I don't know.

We've done it politically in the past. Yeah, we have. We've done it politically. Last year we said we've got to reduce the truth of it on this part of the world. Well, this woman was described, this woman who was not totally with it in terms of her cognition was claimed to be historically involved in an evangelical cult. So that wasn't boring to personalize here. Anyway, all that aside. So we don't want to be called a cult. We want to rightly divide the word of truth. Okay, so these people we have to kind of watch out for I think because even in aspects of interpretation that's part of the salvation experience, we can be misled. Well, I will say one thing, Bob. When people are of the oath that they don't believe Jesus Christ came in the flesh, that's pretty serious. That's a deal-breaker. They can't be saved. That's a deal-breaker. Deb?

These people are, since they are, It's hard to find out what they believe right away. It takes time. But over time you can start seeing inconsistencies in what they believe. Okay. Well, you know, to fellowship with these kind of people really relates to having right doctrine, right? It's not only the doctrine, it's the life that relates to the doctrine. But nevertheless, I think ultimately that's where the rubber meets the road. All right.

So here's some hard language. We don't really take them into our home nor even greet them. I mean, that's pretty strong language. So ultimately, receive means we don't need any further information. It's imperative. We don't do this. We're called as believers not to do this. And I said, wow, doesn't this kind of sound extreme at your house or even greeting? Him, and by the way, him is generally translated as him, her, or them. I mean, it's not simply a male gender person. This could be anybody, him, the individual. So, ultimately, I think Jason Fawcett and Brown, I think, do pretty well with this.

And I kind of like this because it provided some comfort to not having unsaved people into our homes. So, this is not said of those who were always aliens from the church. but of those who wish to be esteemed brethren and subvert the true doctrine. So that's in a sense what you were talking about Roger, this individual who was part of our body for a while, right? So the greetings salutation forbidden in the case of such a one is that the usual among Christian brethren in those days is not a mere formality but a token of Christian brotherhood. Okay, so again it's a matter of the fellowship we have, I think, with these individuals can be broken by wrong doctrine.

I kind of found that good. So let's look at a few verses that compliment this. And John, Christ said, he who receives whomever I send receives me. I think that's kind of interesting, it's kind of a little bit out of left field a little bit in terms of interpretation, but I think if people come in the new creation of Christ Jesus, we accept them.

And that's all that he is as an individual and also in terms of doctrine. Romans urges us, brethren, that note that those who cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine, which you've learned, and avoid them. For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple. So, are you simple? I hope we're more than simple, but anyway, I think Paul has a similar passage for us there.

And again, in 1 Timothy 3, 5, and 6, having a form of godliness but denying its power and from such people turn away. For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins led away by lust." So anyway, there's kind of lots of other warnings about... All right. Verse 11, for he who greets him, or God's speed is in some translations, shares or is a partaker in his evil deeds.

What do you make of that? John's flat and right, remember. What are you doing? You accept him. You're agreeing with him. This is going to be pretty subtle, couldn't it? I mean, this person existed in our body for some time. Doctorally not sound, but ultimately real. I was speaking to several people. I was identifying each one. To me this seems like he's talking about you don't want to be associated with them so people will think that you agree with what they believe. You don't give credence to their belief. I think that's part of it. You know, it's kind of interesting.

The Greek word for partaker is having communion with. We cannot have communion with saints and with antichrists at the same time. But if these people are antichrists, then they're unsaved. So I don't know really whether you can carry it that far, because it sounds to me like what we're all agreeing is that these people may be saved, but just have wrong doctrine.

But I guess, you know, I've heard a lot of people, particularly Jay Vernon, thinks that the greatest work of the devil is within the body. I mean, the world system is what it is. We can identify that easily in everything it stands for. But within the body, this kind of individual could do much harm.

So, in a sense, their behavior may be antichrist-like, even though they're saved. I mean, it's kind of a difficult test to kind of really say exactly to whom this applies. Do you have denominations that have kind of broken off who really are fairly extreme. And they may be saved in the basic form. Does it take much to get saved in terms of 1st Corinthians 15, does it?

I think we have the domination to have gone down that road. But if we did a false, not a false, somebody who believes a little bit different than we do, And if you keep them in the church, you may cause divisions. And I think Roger and the leadership of his church was correct in asking that of those people, those type of people to leave. They've got an agenda and they want to, they'll cause divisions in the church.

So do you think it's correct to identify them with the Antichrist? Maybe not. I don't think they're anti-Christ, they're just, they're part of God's faith. But I was thinking about the verse that says, he is not for me, he is against me. So, if they deny clear evidence from scripture that he didn't come in the flesh, that's a pretty serious...

But the other thing to keep in mind is to remember our sin nature never leaves us. It's just been taken care of. But in terms of our condition day in and day out, our faith is that we're positionally seen as resurrected and righteous. So the kind of person that comes in with wrong doctrine, in a sense if we listen to that and kind of heed that, we're in fact entering into that fleshly desire of pleasing him or her in terms of their false doctrine. Well, I think that's what this seems to be addressing here.

At First Timothy 5.22, Do not lay hands on anyone hastily. It's kind of sharing communion with, if you will. Nor share in other people's sins. Keep yourself pure.

So, the idea that we can be distracted by false doctrine and ultimately, in a sense, enter into that by appearance or ultimately, maybe even unconsciously. Is that kind of... I mean, when we buy into wrong doctrine and have a relationship with these kinds of people, we need to identify that for what it's worth. I think Roger hit it on the head too because if you then begin associating with that person people that look to you may think that in fact because you're associating with that person who has that wrong doctrine that you believe that too and you know other people can be swayed and you know this next scripture I'm sharing Ephesians 5 kind of deals with this and I have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather expose them. So the idea of the wrong doctrine is brought in and we fellowship with these people in a sense we're endorsing that wrong doctrine, right?

I mean this is a fine line. We're not here in a courtroom to try to judge. But I think the idea of the sin nature can often be led astray by wrong doctrine. And that could be for wrong reasons. So rightly dividing the word of truth is what we're called to do. So we need to have an antenna to make sure that these people are recognized and ultimately we follow John's direction in terms of how we deal with them.

And think back, churches then often met at people's homes. So this idea of having them in your home, I mean we overly interpret that today in the fact that we're living in a secure brick or cedar or whatever house that has all kinds of stuff. So likewise, greet the church that is in their house. Greet my beloved Aponitis, who is the first fruits of Achaia to Christ in Colossians 14. Greet the brethren who are in Laodicea and Memphis and the church that is in her house. I mean, the idea here is that's where churches were.

Maybe we need to go back another time. I think I'm glad. This is our house here, right? Our house is heavily gathered. And that makes sense when you say that. You know, there were house churches there. That's why John said don't even let them in your house. Yeah, I think that's the body. That's where the body gathered. Exactly. So in a sense, maybe we're overly interpreting today in terms of what our house is.

Our house is Holly Hills Bible Church, I think, in terms of how it compares to where the New Testament church existed, right? You know, I can remember having people in our home to our Bible study who, in fact, definitely had a different doctrine. But we didn't know that, maybe, until... I mean, we didn't know that. It didn't take very long to recognize that they had a different doctrine. And usually those people maybe came once or twice, three times, but then Once they realized they weren't going to get in there in a Bible study, in a small group, they never saw them. And that's what we've seen at Holly Hills. If you're strong in what you teach and you're consistent, then over time they'll realize this is not a purple ground for my program.

Exactly. We need to avoid opining simply. We turn people to the Word of God. and we need to do that rightfully and we need to do it convincingly, that spirit led. This is what scripture says. Amen. It's not a simple verse, it can be many. I'm agreeing with you with an amen on that because... All right, let's continue. The question comes up here, then, what about opening our homes? What would it be like opening up Hollyhills Bible Church? And are having relationships with the unsaved, which could lead to sharing the Lord?

I think there's something about this verse that says we can't do that. We went out to dinner with some neighbors who've done a lot of neat things in the neighborhood. By the way, that's another curve for us. We've got kind of a stripe on the mountain.

But all that aside, they're unsaved people, but I think ultimately, we have a relationship with them that ultimately is hopefully going to be leading to their salvation if the spirit lives. So anyway, the idea of not having relationships with unsaved people is not what the verse is calling us to.

It's watching what happens within the body. Yeah, Roger? It's being a wise steward of God's word, a wise steward of who you are in Christ. It's just being wise about that and not being taken in by people that have other agendas. But just think about this in terms of contextual interpretation of the word of God.

I mean, I grew up as an uneducated, unsaved individual in my late teenage years and during college years and before I got saved at 30. I thought anybody could use the Bible to make any point they wanted to make about any issue at all times. I mean, isn't that true? You could pull some verse out of Jeremiah or out of Judges or some places. Anyway, but rightly dividing the word of truth is interpreting this in terms of the body of Christ, not your own home. And even in your own home, if that's a Bible study like Margaret indicated, these people sorted themselves out there just like they do here ultimately.

Any other thoughts here? Alright, let's cruise on into verse 12. Having many things to write to you, I did not wish to do so with paper and ink, but I hope to come to you and speak face to face that our joy may be full. So, does this in any way remind you of the Gospel of John? Well, it does.

It reminded me, I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them. I mean, at the end of the gospel account, you know, John had a lot more to share. He thought it was too much for him, kind of encyclopedic, you know, that ultimately he decided not to enter into that space. John 21-23 and there are also many other things that Jesus did which if they were written one by one I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written on them. So I mean this idea that John had a lot on his mind that ultimately did not get communicated. And don't we prefer to be face to face rather than by Zoom? I mean, here we are. This is so different than being at home.

I mean, it still doesn't mean the message doesn't come across, but just seeing people's faces and watching you laugh or frown, depending on what's happening up here, it's really... You know, it was very nice yesterday. It was. There were so many people there who participate on Zoom, but actually came to the to the memorial service, and it was so really great to interact with so many people that, you know, we haven't seen face-to-face for a while. It's hard to hug somebody on TV. It is.

Particularly in terms of refreshments, right? All right, well, this is kind of interesting. I must admit, a little surprise to me, maybe not to some others, perhaps to Roy and others, but face-to-face literally means mouth-to-mouth. I don't want you to take that too far here.

But anyway, the only verse that kind of really, it's all Hebrew stuff, so I speak with him mouth to mouth. That's such a neat, I love that verse, it's such a neat picture of the Lord and Moses. Even plainly and not in dark sayings, and he sees the form of the Lord, why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? So anyway, so that's, I speak with him mouth to mouth. I mean, this is not a kiss, this is actually... The closeness of what the Lord wants to do.

He says, we'll ultimately be face to face with him, but through his word right now, we can be face to face with him through his word. Well, that's true. And even though face to face is possible on Zoom, it may not be mouth to mouth. Right. I'll let you think about that with a lot of weight. We talk face to face. Look at the expression. Right. Somebody you have no clue. I know. That's why all the analogies.

I mean, face to face you can see the twinkle in the eye, or the smile on the face. Or the sadness, or the sorrow, or whatever it is. That's why I take them mouth-to-mouth and talk, interact with them as a person. In a lot of medical education now, I mean, before I retired, I recorded my lessons, you know, so that students would just, you know, look at them whenever they wanted. That's so sterile. I mean, there's no interaction. It just is.

And that's kind of digitally where the world's going now increasingly, right? One of the things that is showing up with children and young people is they don't know how to talk to someone face to face. With all those expressions and the body language and everything, And so what they're seeing is these kids are having a lot of trouble. And so that's why you see all this bullying and acting out to compete.

Because when you don't have all this interaction face-to-face, you don't understand what your words mean when there's no reaction on either side. Someone can say anything or do anything or get away with anything because they don't feel that face-to-face stuff. Well, the other thing is, I mean, I'm guilty of this too, you know, waiting for the board of plane and everybody sitting there looking down at their iPhone. I mean, I would say, I'm just 80 or 90% of people are preoccupied with their phone. We all get into that space because we want to catch up with our email or maybe even communicate with people, but it's getting increasingly sterile, isn't it?

When you're speaking face-to-face, you're communicating emotions. We are very emotional beings. I like what the Holy and Christian Standard Bible translates, Numbers 12-8 is, I speak with him directly. Yep, okay. Mouth to mouth. He's communicating emotions, you're communicating emotions, and if you're not face to face, you're not communicating emotions. You're communicating emotions through text, like Wayne said. Okay. You can't do that. for our young people. Well, it's so easy. It's so easy, but it's so sterile. Well, you can say anything. And you offend people. Well, you can offend people. If you face the punishment, you're less likely to offend the people. I think that's a good discussion to follow, really, to try to rectify differences and things like that.

So, Robertson says the shanties, if you will, is a leaf of papyrus prepared for writing by cutting the pith into strips and pasting together old word here only in the New Testament and using black ink. So I mean he's just describing that how writing a letter was created. I mean think about that today. And now we're on word documents. Anyway I thought that was kind of disinteresting on the side in terms of how a letter was prepared. Howard, don't you think that John's letter reveals the power, purity, and love of the church? And I think it does. And why was this important to John, do you think? Communicating the power, purity, and love of the church.

Well, he answered that way back in the first epistle a little bit. And these things I write unto you that your joy may be made full. I mean, how many times do we lose that joy we have in the Lord Jesus Christ in our salvation? And the neatest thing that I personally experienced with coming to the idea that traditionally I was complete. He had made him who knew no sin. to be made sin for me and for Roger and Ronnie and everybody else that we might be made the righteousness of God. Once you see that, that creates the Christian experience as a joyful experience.

That doesn't mean they're on trials and tribulations. It just means we should have the joy of the Lord Jesus Christ in us. And that's why he wanted to write a letter that their joy might be full. Well, and it's right now. It's not just when we go home to be with the Lord. The joy should be, you know, right now, in the art.

And boy, you know, we fall short of that so many times because of experiences that we're going through. But nevertheless, the joy that we have as being believers is different than trying to please God through every act of the flesh to prove self-righteousness. I mean, it's a whole different platform that we live on. And I think it's neat to think that this letter that he would like to have written would have been communicating that brother joy.

So the last verse in the second epistle, children of your elect sister greet you, amen. So the children is technon and I think these are her children, are these her children or are those of the body do you think? I mean technon is used by John early on in terms of kind of believers that are being trained and educated in the doctrine. But Technon can be interpreted scripturally as also infants too, very small children. So what are your thoughts here in terms of the interpretation? By the way, he's talking about his elect sister.

I remember when we first started teaching 2 John, the question is, was this the church itself that was the lady? I think this is a person. So now the question is, if you accept that, and I'm hopefully rightly dividing the word of truth, Are these her children or those of the body? Now that doesn't mean that the lady has to be the body of Christ, but it could be. But anyway, I don't think we have an answer to this. One interpreter thought that ultimately this was related to her own children, but I don't know.

It could be that maybe they had to write a code or something. What do you mean by that? Well, I meant if there was some kind of a danger of somebody looking for them, maybe they wanted to use this term, talking about the church, but using the term sister. I mean, it was just an idea, I don't know if it's true or not.

And of your ex-sister, Green Shoe, I think this is more evidence that this is a woman, a female believer, not a body, but again, that's an opinion. I don't know if we can be solid on that. The elect sister seems to relate to a person, an individual rather than to a body, an elect body.

But it also included the children, particularly young believers, whom she hosts in her home as the church. Well, let's see what other scholars think, meaning these scholars think. Alfred confesses that the non-mention of the lady herself here seems rather to favor the hypothesis that the church is meant. Anyway, and then there's Robertson. apparently children of a deceased sister of the lady of 2 John 1 who lived in Ephesus and whom John knew as members of his church there.

So, anyway, whatever. It works both ways. Thank you Jim. We have the final word from our brother Jim. Oh my goodness. Again, some things in scripture we completely understand, and other things we don't. But this does not limit our growth in grace, does it? I think.

I like Bonnie's suggestion, just pose. Have I ever told you what my old baseball coach said? Don't say that. Don't make no never mind. It's just like chalk on the blackboard. Thank you. We'll talk about it a little later. OK. Okay, and the epistle ends with Amen. Roy's already shared this term, thank you. I kind of like what Brian said about this, interpreting Amen. At the end, so it is, so be it. May it be fulfilled. It was a custom which passed over from the synagogues to the Christian assemblies. that when he who had read or discoursed had offered up solemn prayer to God, the others responded, Amen, and thus made the substance of what was uttered their own." That's a nice description of why Amen is so typically utilized in scripture. Throughout the Old Testament, he remembered many of the Psalms ended with Amen from David. So, a man of God.

Alright, so we've completed the second epistle of John, we have John's third epistle to go next week and there's no Sunday school on Christmas or New Years and the first Sunday of January we'll be completing the third epistle of the Apostle John. Can I get you on tape here to say you'll take that class?

I'm sorry? Will you take the last message in 3rd John? I haven't run the schedule yet. What's the date? The second Sunday, the first Sunday is the first. It'll be the 8th, I guess. 8th of January. Is that a good day for you? You can have the final word. I don't want the final word. All bad. No, I can take it. Yeah, I'm fine with that. I'll start the schedule if you want to.

No, we're not in any distant land at that point. So let's close in prayer. Father, we're thankful for the Spirit working through the Apostle John. He's had much to teach us and sometimes it's a little bit challenging to know exactly if there's not more of a gray zone in terms of exactly what the meaning is but basically John's black and white and I think it's the doctrine of Christ versus that that's not of Christ and I think that's what we're here to learn and live by. So we're thankful for the teaching that's existed in this epistle and may that continue to the termination of his third epistle after the New Year. So in Jesus Christ's name we pray. Amen.