Daily readings for devoted living. Don’t give them a warm welcome to your congregation.” This applies solely to antichrists. True belief always revolves around a proper view of Christ. Walk in Love - 2 John 1:6 2 John 1:6 And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. This word never carries casual or superficial connection. John Wesley called this concept of perfection “constant obedience.” That is, a perfect heart is a responsive heart, one that answers quickly and totally all the Lord’s wooings, whisperings and warnings. APPLICATION: Whenever some teacher comes along and professes some special new revelation, be wary of him for is a faker. The same God that forgives sin also cleanses from it. False teachers who denied the incarnation did visit the elect lady’s congregation. The presence of false teachers proves damaging to the exercise of mutual love because their teaching negates the essence of Christianity, the incarnation. Everything from that moment on is wood, hay and stubble. This is especially true in widespread defection from the faith. Day 2 – 1 John 4:7 – Where does love come from? He didn’t just claim He could show the way, explain the truth, and give life. Those who give credibility to teachers participate in their teaching, whether good or evil. 5 ‘For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.’” Do not give him the credibility of a Christian.” The elect lady already had extended hospitality indiscriminately to these false teachers because the phrase “do not” means to stop doing something you are already doing. 15 And what accord has Christ with Belial? Verse 8 contains John’s second warning. . Most people in the world have no experience of lasting joy in their lives. Then each one’s praise will come from God.” We come now to the second warning – intolerance for the access of antichrists to the local congregation. To advance beyond Christ is to reject Christ. There is no compromise here: “Do not recognize him as a genuine Christian by giving him hospitality. 2Co 5:10 “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” “Reward” is the term for a day laborer’s wage. PRINCIPLE: Those who go beyond the bounds of Scripture are not of God. Christians need to place themselves under continuous guard against this. Their purpose was to spread Gnostic doctrine. God is not tolerant of differences in terms of content of truth. daily devotions from your favorite Christian ministries, pastors, and speakers on Crosswalk.com! 1Co 4:5 “Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Compromise with false teaching leads to loss of reward. APPLICATION: There is an issue in which each Christian should be duly concerned about himself – the area of false doctrine. And from such people turn away!” Many of these teachers were imposters. Jesus Christ is the substructure for everything in the Bible. For the third time, John uses the word “doctrine.” It is impossible to be a Christian without doctrine. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ Mt 6:16 “Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. She provided food and lodging for antichrists! John now demonstrates the gravity of defecting to the false teachers (cf. They are not to be blind to spiritual deception. Sign In. And what communion has light with darkness? We come to the conclusion of 2 John in verses 12 and 13. The Witness to the Light Devotional. John 2:13-25: 2020-08-04 Water into Wine: John 2:1-12: 2020-08-03 Grace and Truth: John 1:14-18: 2020-08-02 God with Us: John 1:6-14: 2020-08-01 A Light in the Dark: John 1:1-5: 2020-05-27 Community Is . As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love. You will stand there alone. Donate Now. God expects us to hold to truth, to live in truth and to know the truth. They sneak in surreptitiously. People who work for a living should receive due wages for their labor. It is not love to extend hospitality to heresy. Most important, however, is the strong witness of John: the witness to Jesus as the Word made flesh, God with us in person. The “lady” and her children will lose their reward for faithful missionary service if they fall for the false teachers. He knew the remedy for their anxieties as well. The “if” indicates the reality of the attendance of false teachers in the church at Ephesus. Generally God rewards hospitality (Mt 10:41; 25:40) but not in this case. Warning against apostates who reject the deity of Christ, vv 9-11. What gracious words to the church are these wise instructions from the ageing apostle John. he who greets him shares in his evil deeds Sometimes we can fall into the trap of presenting truth without love. For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. 1 Chronicles 29:11-12 – Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, The power and the glory, The victory and the majesty; For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, And You are exalted as head over all.Both riches and honor come from You, And You reign over all. but I hope to come to you and speak face to face, Truth and Love Devotional. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.”, 2 John 1:8 Look to yourselves, 2 John 1:9 “Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. For many deceivers have gone out into the world And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, ‘Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?’ 23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son.” Will you have little to present to the Master? has both the Father and the Son One of the main reasons Christians doubt their salvation is the presence of sin in their life. If we confess the Son, we possess the Father. Do not let some fast-talking, religious salesman cheat you out of your reward. Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.”. A “deceiver” is a religious seducer who leads others astray (1Ti 4.1). The first century person used the word “greet” for the arrival and departure of a visitor (2Co 13:11). Do not let anyone cheat you out of your reward. View Resource, The early church rejected Gnosticism, but certain aspects of Greek thought linger even today. Daily devotional with John Piper. Day 3 – 1 John 3:16 – How do I know Jesus loves me? 2 John 1:6 And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in … Much of truth today is watered down, diluted and adulterated. The issue here is not an unloving attitude toward heretics but decisive dealing with error. He will search your hearts and give a reward for what is done for His glory. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’”, Ac 4:12 “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”, 1 Co 3:11 “For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”, Col 2:9 “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; 10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.”. God expects Christians to be courteous and tolerant in terms of mode. There were few suitable motels in the first century so traveling teachers stayed in homes of the locality where they ministered. 2 Peter 1:6 Devotional. Jn 5:23 “…that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. 10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. Revelation 1:1–6 Psalm 11 1 John 1:1–2:2 John 21:20–25. We can detect false teachers by their thinking about Christ. John’s reference here is to teachers of false doctrine and not merely the believers of it. Twitter; Facebook; Email; 1 John 5 2 John 1:4-6 3 John 1. If we do, we will protect our spiritual gains here on earth. These children may be the nephews and nieces of the elect lady (v. 1). He delights in mangling, smashing, twisting, destroying, blighting, and blasting. They will seduce you if they can. They made “ink” from lampblack, carbon or soot. 2 John 6 New International Version (NIV). Walk In Love. Believers need to watch out for spiritual disaster. Mt 5:11 “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. A daily devotion for July 10th ... John 14:1-3 Do not let your hearts be troubled. Instead of rebuking them, we unintentionally assist their principles and spread their teaching. verse 8). The children of your elect sister greet you. 2 John 1:8b but that we may receive a full reward We cannot deny Christ and believe in the Father at the same time. Jude 4 “For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.” When we trusted Jesus as Saviour we became children of God, entering into eternal union with Christ, a relationship that can never be broken. It is not true that there are many roads to heaven, for either Jesus is who He claimed to be or He is a faker. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified. Instead of standing apart from the blandishments of the world, they are absorbed into it. They have a shrinking sense of the peril of heresy. 4. I usually podcast the daily blogs with my thick Scottish accent. An “antichrist” is someone opposed to Christ. Look at the Book. in all its fullness to as many people as possible. Gnostics claimed to be advanced thinkers for the enlightened, but John warns against teaching that does not stay within the structure of apostolic teaching. We fellowship in their teaching. Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son, in truth and love. “Look” is in the present tense indicating that we are to be continuously on our guard against false doctrine. Anything he deserves, he can lose. 2 John 1:10 “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him…” John 14:1. Perhaps some of the money you are giving to local charities is being funneled to groups who do community service while being hostile to Christianity. Note that in the previous verse John warns against loss of reward (v. 8). God always rewards us according to absolute fairness. John 1:6–9. These types are maudlin and mawkish in their love. 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