2 John, and if you're wondering which chapter, you need to read 2 John more often. 2 John is where we continue a series entitled Heresy and Hospitality, which is an odd combination, but one found here in this little book. You do have an outline on the back of your bulletins. Some of those I misnamed with last week's title, they still say the blessing of obedience halfway through printing the bulletin. I noticed that and so some of yours will say the obedience of truth or one last week was the blessing of truth. This is the obedience of truth this morning. Second, John, please give your attention now to the reading of God's word. We'll look at the brief letter in its entirety in our reading this morning. The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all who know the truth because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever. Grace, mercy and peace will be with us from God the father and from Jesus Christ, the father's son, in truth and love. I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father. And now I ask you, dear lady, not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning, that we love one another. 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 it. For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch yourselves so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward. Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the father and the son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting. For whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works. Though I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to come to you and talk face to face so that our joy may be complete. The children of your elect sister greet you." We prayed a moment ago in our singing of Psalm 119X for illumination, and so I'm going to proceed right into the sermon. In Matthew chapter 7, Verses 15 through 20, Jesus says these words, Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? So every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, you will recognize them by their fruits. John, like Jesus, is concerned to warn us about the reality of false teachers. And John, like Jesus, goes right to the practical fruit of one's life as a major element in our discerning of truth. How are we to know if someone is teaching us the truth? And so we are taught that truth and love are completely inseparable. They must always go together. This point was made clear in the blessing of verse 3 here in 2 John. At the very end of this blessing, John couples together truth and love, and he pronounces upon his readers here that these blessings from God will be with you in truth and love. And what he is teaching is that if we really do have the truth, If we really have truth as it is in Jesus, then there will be fruit of that truth in our life, and primarily that will come out in the actions of love. This is the case because truth is from God, and God is love. And so if you have the truth as it is in Jesus, if you have the truth from God, That truth will be basked in and will produce love in your life. And so you cannot separate these two from one another. A mark of the truth is love. This morning we will consider the obedience of truth, which is largely comprehended in the subject of love. Let's consider love and obedience for a moment here. Or we could call this love and actions. John writes in verse 4, "...I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father." Walking in the truth. I want you to notice that John writes here, walking in the truth. Walking in the truth means that you are moving. Walking in the truth means that you are progressing in the truth. There's movement alluded to here in this word, walking. John could have written, but he didn't. He could have written, I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children sitting in the truth. But that's not what he says. He says, I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, which speaks about progress and action. To walk in the truth is to be living in and obedient to the truth that God has revealed to us. That's what walking in the truth is, to be living in it and obedient to it. And John rejoices in this. And thus we are taught by his very rejoicing that it should always be a cause for rejoicing in us when we find somebody making progress in the Christian life. That should become a cause for joy Hey, this person's progressing in the truth. This person is growing in Christ. In fact, John will say in the very next letter, he writes a letter to a man named Gaius, and he says there, guess what? I have no greater joy than to know that my children are walking in the truth. There has been a double call here for us One call is for ourselves to be walking in the truth, making progress in the Christian life, striving for that upward calling in Christ Jesus. In other words, we're not supposed to look at this and say, hey, that's neat, you know. John really likes it when people are walking in the truth. That's kind of a neat thing here. We learned something about John this morning. It makes him happy when people are progressing in the truth. No, that's not it at all. We have these words of John here so that we ourselves will be motivated to be walking in the truth, to be progressing in righteousness and holiness. And secondly, this is a call to rejoice. It's a call to rejoice in kingdom progress, whether we find it in our own lives or the lives of others. We really need to examine ourselves and we need to reassess our value, our values in life. What are those things that make us joyful? In other words, do you get more joyful when you find your children accomplishing some kind of academic greatness? What about a sports events or something like that? Does it make you joyful when your team wins? Or when your children win? Do you show the greatest joy in those times when you see success in your kid's life in things like academics or success in sports? Or do we long for and do we rejoice to see our children, ourselves, the whole body for that matter, Do we rejoice to see one another walking in the truth, progressing in righteousness? Next, in this verse here, John says that he found them walking in the truth. Some of these children were found to be walking in the truth. Well, you've got to think about this for a moment, but if John found them walking in the truth, then there must have been some tangible evidence that they were, in fact, walking in the truth. In other words, there is objective evidence to progressing and walking in truth. There's progressive evidence that someone can look at you and say, wow, hey, I haven't seen you in a while. This is great to find you. walking in the truth, progressing in righteousness. It's something that we can see in others, and it's something that others should be able to see in our own lives. Notice that John is not saying here that he found some of these folks, hey, I found some of your children were baptized and had membership in a church. It's not it at all. He says he found them doing something. He found action. He found evidence of their life in Christ. He found them walking in the truth. This is an observable reality that others can see. Have you ever had the humbling or the odd experience, depending on which side of the equation you're on, You tell a friend, or a workmate, or a classmate, hey, I'm a Christian. And they look at you, totally puzzled, and they say, really? Or the other way around. You have a workmate, or a friend, or somebody, and sometime in a conversation, and they've shown no evidence of ever being in Christ. And they tell you, yeah, I'm a Christian. And you're thinking, really? When John says that he found some of them, some of these walking in the truth, he is telling us that the Christian life has tangible evidences. You can be and you should be found to be a Christian. You should be found to be walking in the truth. A final point on this verse, verse 4 here, is I want you to notice that John says here that this walking in the truth that he has found some of this church engaged in, this walking in the truth that he's found this church engaged in, is according to the commandment of the Father. This is no small point. This is no small nuance. that John puts here. The commandment has come from the Father. What we have before us here in this little phrase from the Father is one of the major keys in properly understanding Christian obedience to the commandments of God. We have before us the issue that separates on one hand a works-oriented legalism versus a grace-oriented motivated obedience. Since it's so key that we understand this issue, we want to spend some time here, and so let's move into the next few verses as they unpack this idea of obedience to the Father's commandment. Let's consider love and commandments together. I want you to note first the terms of endearment that are used here in v. 5 and the one from v. 4. John begins v. 5 here with a very gentle and gracious tone. Notice he says, And now I ask you, dear lady. Right before this, at the end of v. 4, as we have noted, he says that walking in the truth is commanded by the Father. Dear lady. and Father are terms of endearment. They define the relationship in which this discussion of obedience to the commandments of God is to take place, and that is a relationship of love and grace. Specifically, these terms of endearment establish two vital aspects of our obedience. One, they establish our relationship to the lawgiver. And number two, they establish our motive for obedience. Let's consider first our relationship to the lawgiver. And let's consider first this idea of a father versus a judge. When John says that we are commanded by the father, He instantly establishes the way in which we are to view these commandments. Specifically, we are to understand the commandments of God as rules coming from a loving Father to the children of His love. The commandments of God is a rule that comes from a loving father to the children of his love. In other words, when we hear that this commandment comes from the father, we are told of our status before God. We are told how we're to view these commandments. We are the children of God. If these are from the father, then that means we are his children. And these rules then come to us as a father's loving rules to his children. This distinction is absolutely vital and inextricable to a right keeping of the law of God. Do you keep the commandments of God because he is the sovereign Lord of heaven and earth? He is the judge of the living and dead. His rule and law is inescapable and you will answer on that final day for your performance. Is that why you keep the law of God? Or, do you keep the commandments because God is your loving, heavenly Father who loved you so much that He did not even spare His own Son, but He delivered Him up for you? You see, the difference here is absolutely crucial and critical. On the last day, On Judgment Day, you will stand before God, and you will stand before Him either as your Judge or your Father. Now, when we project ourselves out to the last day, we quickly understand why that's such an important distinction. Nobody wants to stand before God as a Judge. They want to stand before God as their loving Heavenly Father. In fact, in that day, that distinction of who God is to you, judge or father, will make all the difference in the world concerning your eternal destiny. The problem is, is we don't always see how important this issue is in the here and now and the living and walking of the Christian life today. And so let's consider this second point, affections versus actions. There is much to say on this point, and I will be getting into this over this next year, basically a whole lot about the place of the law and the life of the Christian. But suffice it to say now that one of the main differences here in our relationship to the lawgiver is that when the command comes from our father, when the command comes from our father, the harshness and the severity is taken out of it. When the command comes from your father, the harshness and the severity is gone from it. This then means that in understanding our relationship to the lawgiver, when we come to understand our relationship to the lawgiver, we then move into a different relationship to the law. What matters now, what matters now in our relationship to the law is our affections and our attitudes, not so much our actions. Now, lest you think that I am saying that God's law at all times does not demand exact, perfect obedience, I am not. The law of God always demands exact, perfect obedience. This requirement never changes, and this is still the requirement upon us. But where a judge penalizes, the rules don't change. But where a judge penalizes for anything less than perfection in performance, a father rewards for an attempt well done. You see, where a judge stands there and he has only one thing to say, you either made it to the bar or you didn't. I mean, it's completely a static relationship. You either made the cut or you didn't. That's how a judge deals. But a father comes in and says, hey, you did better that time than you did the last time. You know, I see progress. Here was your last mark. Next time, you might even get higher on that mark. You see, a judge looks at the actions, a judge looks at the actions, and he says, you are either innocent or you are guilty. That's the relationship we have with a judge. A father looks at the attitude. A father looks at the affections, and he says either, well done, Or you might hear, watch it. Think about this in sports. Think about the difference between a referee and a father at a game. I hope that, I mean, I'm sure there's going to be exceptions to all these kinds of rules, but the father is happy looking at the performance, even though the child might lose. The judge says you lost. The referee says you lost. That was a penalty. But the father might have a different statement there. He might say, yeah, you lost, but that was a very good try. Or he might say, you know what? You didn't practice this last week like I told you to. You failed specifically because you failed to do these other things. And so the father will bring in loving correction. The judge just puts a big L in the category. You lost, period. It's over. It's done. And so, outside of Christ, God is your judge, and His commandments are a heavy burden and an impossible standard. But inside of Christ, God is our Father, and His commandments are easy, and His yoke is light. The judge urges obedience upon pain of death. A father urges obedience by sweetness, and love. Dear Lady, Paul in Romans, brethren, I beseech you by the mercies of God. Not the terror of the penalty, but rather by the mercies of God. And thus, this brings us to our motive for obedience. Let's look at our motive for obedience. with a proper understanding of our relationship to the lawgiver, we then have a proper motive for obedience. And that is, we seek to please our Father. We obey because we are seeking to please our Father, to walk in the truth and obey His commands because we love Him. Our imperfect obedience Listen to this. Our imperfect obedience to his commands is now an expression of the gratitude that we have to him as our loving father for the mercy he has showered upon us. Our imperfect obedience is not rendered to a judge that must be satisfied by filling up some quota of good works. Therefore, our motive to obedience Our motive for obedience is love. It's precisely because we have been loved by God that we in turn love Him back, and we evidence this love by willingly obeying His commandments. Let me note one passage. Paul, in 2 Corinthians 5.14, says, The love of Christ constrains us. The love of Christ controls us. And here He goes on, because this is why it constrains us. This is why the love of Christ motivates us and controls us, and everything we do comes from this constraint and control of the love of God. Because we have concluded this, that one has died for all, and therefore all have died. And because He died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who for their sake died and was raised." You see, Paul is saying that his motive to obedience is love. His motive is love. Since Christ died for us, we should live for Him. Since Christ died for us, we should live for Him. That is, we are no longer living for ourselves. Why? Why aren't we living for ourselves? Why aren't we seeking to have a performance that will benefit ourselves? Because one already lived for us, and one already performed for us. Therefore, we don't at all perform anymore and live anymore for ourselves, because that's been done. The law has been lived for us. So we don't live the law for ourselves any longer. We live it as a complete act of love to our Heavenly Father who loved us and gave the Son for us. And as we see with the love of God, love is the greatest motive that there can ever be. You see, love knows no bounds. The law has a bound. The law says, do this. And when we render obedience to a judge, we are looking simply to satisfy the demands of justice. What does love do? Love knows no bounds. Love goes above and beyond. It does far more than is asked for. I mean, you guys have all known people in love. Hopefully you were all in love. Hopefully you are still in love. You do stupid things when you're in love. Love knows no bounds. I mean, you'll ride your bike all, you know, across town to see her. You would jump over the moon if you could for her. Love knows no bounds. And like Jacob, who worked seven years for Rachel, who he loved, He worked those seven years of hard labor. And the scripture says, it seemed but a day for the love he had for her. You see, that is our motive. This is why we say that love is the motive for obedience. But love is not only the motive for our obedience to the commands of God, it is also the fulfillment of the law. And let's look at the third point this morning then, love and fulfillment. Love is the motive to obey, and love is the fulfillment of the law. Now John's main point here is to urge us to love one another. The whole point of this text in front of us is to urge us to love one another, but in accomplishing this call to obedience here, John states a fact and he takes a swipe at the false teachers here. Let's look at these two incidentals before we get right to the issue of love as the fulfillment of the law. The first is the fact. The fact that John states here is that this commandment, which, as we will see in a moment, is to love one another, this commandment which fulfills all of the other commandments, this is not a new commandment. John is not here revealing to them a new idea or some new knowledge, but rather John is simply restating to them something that they already knew. He's telling them, look, you know this. What we learn by this is something very practical in our own lives. That is, you can never hear the truth enough. You need to be retold over and over again the truth. Those simple things that you think, oh yeah, I know all that. You need to be told again. You can't hear it enough. You will never arrive at a place on this side of glorification that you don't have some room to grow in grace, some room to grow in your understanding. And this simple command to love one another is just such a case in point. They know this command. You know this command. But John still repeats it to them and he urges them to walk in it. You know, John's not the only one who uses repetition in his teaching. Listen to Paul as he wrote to the Thessalonians on this very same issue. Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 4, 9 and 10, now concerning brotherly love. It's the same topic. Now concerning brotherly love, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another. For that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more. And so is John also urging us to do this more and more. Now, by stating this fact, though, John is also taking a swipe at the false teachers who claimed to be bringing new teaching, new revelations. As I've stated in the past, John's concern and contention for the truth is never out of the picture. John loves God. John loves the truth. John loves this church. And therefore, he is always contending for the truth when he is teaching them. And therefore, when he says that he is not bringing a new teaching, he is distancing himself from and he's rebuking the false teachers who tempted the church with their new teachings. In fact, John will specifically speak about the false teachers in this very regard. Look over for a moment, over your page to verses 9 and 10. Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, Do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works." So this denial, this denial, this is no new commandment. I'm not bringing you a new teaching. It's a swipe at the false teachers whose very teaching was sold on the fact that it was new. Hey, everyone else has missed this all along. We got it. Well, let's consider love as the fulfillment of the law. The main point of what John is driving at in this section here is that love is the fulfillment of the law. John says here in verse 6, look at verse 6 with me, 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 it. kind of a confusing passage, and the reason why is what we're being presented with here is really sort of a positive version of the proverbial vicious circle. You've heard of a vicious circle, something that just kind of keeps self-perpetuating itself. Well, that is exactly what John is giving us here in this section. You see, we are commanded to love one another in verse 5. To love is to walk according to the commandments. And so if we are going to be obedient to the Father's commandment, which is singular, if you're going to be obedient to the Father's commandment, which is to love, then you must be obedient to the commandments, plural, of love. So to be obedient to the commandments, to love, you've got to be obedient to the commandments. In other words, what we are being given here is not only a command to love, but also a way to love, the way that we are supposed to love. This is not only a call to action, it's an action plan as well. John has defined Christian love in terms of obedience to God. A Christian who truly seeks to love his neighbor can only do so by obeying what God has commanded him to do. And this is the unanimous teaching of the New Testament. Think about this for a moment. Jesus, Matthew 22, was asked, Teacher, what is the great commandment in the law? And He said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. is like it. You shall love your neighbor as your self. On these two commandments depend the law and the prophets. James taught that you do well. You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to scripture. And what is that? You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Paul said in Galatians 5.14, for the whole law is fulfilled in one word. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. So all of the Scriptures point to the same basic conclusion that love is the fulfillment of the law. Why? Why is love the fulfillment of the law? The reason that love is the fulfillment of the law is just like Paul states Romans 13, 10, you have it on the front of your bulletin. Love is the fulfillment of the law because love does no wrong to a neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. You see, if I'm walking in the truth, if I'm living righteously, if I'm obeying the commandments of my gracious Heavenly Father out of a gratitude for what He has done for me, then I'm going to be living in the most loving way to my brother. Consider just for a moment just the negative side of the Ten Commandments. Just for a moment, the negative side. If I love my neighbor, I will not murder him. And thus, I have both obeyed my father's command and I have loved my neighbor. If I love my neighbor, I will not commit adultery with his wife. And therefore, I have both obeyed my father's command, and I have loved my neighbor." This is only the negative side. If I love my neighbor, I won't steal from him. And thus, I have both obeyed my father's will, and I have loved my neighbor. You get the picture, and you now understand why love is the fulfilling of the law. So in conclusion, what are we being called to do? We are being called to walk in the truth. We are being called to walk in the truth, which means that we keep the Father's command Which means that we keep the Father's command. Which means that we love one another. Which means that we love one another. Which means that we keep the Father's commandments. Plural. We keep the Father's commandments. Plural. Which we fulfill by loving one another, which we fulfill by keeping the Father's commandments, which we fulfill by loving one another, and the circle goes on and on. You see, this is nothing new. There is really no new teaching here. You are being told the truth again. Why? Look at the very end of verse 6. This is why you are being told these simple truths again, so that you should walk in it. Let's pray together. Our gracious, loving, heavenly Father, we thank you for saving us from our sin and from you as our judge We thank You for Jesus, through whom You remain just, and yet You were able to justify us sinners before You. O Lord, we confess with John, behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called the children of God. Lord, we thank You that we are in this kind of relationship with You. And we pray, O God, that you would prick our hearts and that you would help us to want to run in your ways from an enlarged heart that loves you for what you have done for us. You have told us these things so that we might walk in it. And we pray now that you would grant us grace to walk obediently to what we have heard. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.