Introduction: In 1992 there was movie that came out, this movie stared Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson. the plot of the movie was set in a court room. One of the men was willing to stop at nothing to protect his honor or reputation, he was willing to deny the truth. The other would stop at nothing to find the truth. Out of this movie can one of the greatest lines of all times, "The truth, you can't handle the truth." The movie was "a Few Good Men"

Sermon text : 2 John 1-13

Background: 2 John written by the Apostle John he also penned the Gospel of John and the 1st and 3rd John along with revelation. We will be focusing on the 2nd epistles, but in order for me to do that I must give a little background of the preceeding letter of 1 John. Chapter 1 allows us the principles of knowing God, having fellowship with him. Chapter 2/3 talks about having a love for the world versus having a love for God, it tells us of the Anti-Christ and his denial of Jesus Christ, it lets us know of God's righteousness and how we should abide in God. it shows us two types of people that of the righteous and the wicked. Chapter 4 talks of God's love and how love is an indicator of a relationship with God, talks about a mature love and assurance of salvation. Chapter 5 talks about the relationship between the love of God and the love for others. Chapter 5 concludes with an assurance that produces confidence and concern in prayer and it ends with a proper knowledge of God.

2 John talks about continuing in truth, loving fellow believers and watching out for false teachers.

This Morning the questions is can you handle the truth.

In order to answer that you must first know what is the truth.

The truth according to man's definition is that which is true or accepted as true.

According to the Bible the word truth means the word of God. John 17:17 says sanctify them in the truth, your Word is truth.

Text: 2 John 1-13

This letter is address to the elect lady and her children. Many say that this was to a choosen church and it's congregation. this Church was loved by the apostle who loved them according to the truth.

The word truth is mentioned 5 times in the first 4 verses of this letter. We have been taught if we see a word repeated in a text then that's spotlight of the text. What is John trying to express to us. According to these scriptures he wants us to know and live out the truth about Jesus Christ and our relationship with him, and not let others lead us astray with false teaching.

The second thing to notice in this text is the word walk, John is instructing us in letting us know that truth is not something we simply believe, but truth should have a motivating force in our lives.

We can't just know it but we must live it, and our actions will reflect it. 1John 3:18 says " LITTLE CHILDREN, LET US NOT LOVE IN WORD OR TALK, BUT INDEED AND IN TRUTH." In other words this can't be about lip service.

In reading the third thing I noticed about these scriptures was the Word Love. There can be no truth without Love. We understand that Love is not just an emotion that we work ourselves into, but love is obedience to the Word of God. "if you love me, keep my commandments" John 14:15.

Often times we are guilty of loving the Word of God, but not the people of God, where there is a sincere love of God's Word you will find an sincere love of God's people. because loving the truth and loving your brothers and sisters cannot be seperated.

This bring me to my next point which is we must protect the truth, protecting the truth consists of living a life of truth. 1 John 1:6 says if we say we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. For this is love, that we follow his commandments. 1John 5:3 (A) For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments.

Protecting the truth also means that we not give into those who lie about the truth. don't give ear to those who distort the truth, by spreading lies about Jesus Christ, humanity and diety.

To handle the truth

• We must know and believe the truth about Jesus Christ
• This truth should motivate us not just to know , but to live our lives according to the truth, and this truth will be reflected in our lives.
• There can be No Truth with Out Love
• We protect the truth when we don't give ear to those who distort the truth of God's Word.

In conclusion sticking with the truth helps us in undertanding our relationship with God.