Watching to Win
Notes
Transcript
2 John 7-9 ESV
7 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. 8 Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward. 9 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.
A comment that I hear a lot of times from a lot of people, that is in fact a pretty ridiculous comment is that they claim to adhere to the Christian faith but are not into the “rules” of the faith.
Now, I understand these people’s concerns when it comes to certain rules in certain churches or denominations that are unbiblical and are wrought by convictions that are misled and ungodly, but when these people say that they supposedly adhere to the Christian faith and do not care to adhere to legitimately biblical commands, you know, those that are found in the Bible, then that tells me that such people most likely are not legitimate Christians and they need to be corrected for their own good.
As a follower of the orthodox Christian faith, it is my responsibility to correct someone who claims to be an adherent of the orthodox faith yet is practicing or is on the verge of practicing heterodoxy.
As we continue in this series of messages from 2nd John, we will be looking at this responsibility that not just I as a pastor have, but that all of us as legitimate Christians have.
And as we begin to look at our reading for today, the first thing that we see is the reality that some who claim to be Christians can in fact be deceived if they fail to adhere to and practice the true faith.
We see this in the first part of verse 7, where it says:
2 John 7a ESV
7a For many deceivers have gone out into the world,
Now the first thing that we notice in this verse is the word “for”. And I always like to say that when you see the word for or therefore in the Bible, it’s there for a reason. And that reason is always to bring what was said before the word “for” to a conclusion.
So, if we look at what comes before this verse, we see our reading last week, and there we see that John had commanded those in this church to love another. Then he specifically stated that true love on our part is defined as obedience to the commandments of God.
Now, obedience to the commandments of God is more than just doing what God tells us to do, it is also believing and adhering to what is correct.
So, John tells us that it is vital to believe and adhere to what is correct, then he tells us in this verse to do so because many deceivers have gone out into the world who will try to beguile us.
In other words, John warns those of this particular church, and by extension, he warns us that there are those who claim to be true Christians who adhere to a gospel that is not the true gospel and that if those of this church are not actively adhering to the true gospel, then they are more susceptible to being effectively deceived by the abounding false teachers and falling into heterodoxy.
But he says that if those of this church are actively adhering to and obeying the orthodox teachings of the true gospel, they can then effectively help protect one another from such deception.
Furthermore, John goes on in this verse to cite which specific false teaching was popular at that time when concerning these false teachers, he says in the next part of this verse:
2 John 7b ESV
7b those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh.
These false teachers proclaimed that Jesus is the Messiah. They proclaimed that He was the sinless savior of His elect. But they did not confess that He came in the flesh. In other words, they denied the incarnation of Jesus which in turn denied His humanity. They had no problem confessing that Jesus was fully divine, but they did not confess that He was fully human.
Now, this might not really seem like that big of a deal to some of us, but to deny either the full humanity of Christ or the full divinity of Christ is to deny Who Christ is, and to deny Who Christ is, is to worship a false Christ, and to worship a false Christ is to be a practitioner of damnable heresy.
Any deviation from full biblical Christianity leads to false teaching which eventually results in apostasy. And every heretical cult that claims to be Christian does just that, they deviate from full biblical Christianity, particularly in the area of Christology.
Christology is the branch of theology relating to the person, nature, and role of Christ. And just about every cult that claims to be Christian will alter or diminish the person, nature, and role of Christ.
Many of these false teachings will deny the full humanity of Jesus, or they will deny the full divinity of Jesus. Of the most infamous of these cults here in America are the Church of Latter-Day Saints, or those we call Mormons, and the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Mormons believe that Jesus was the son of a god, the result of a real sexual union between the Father and Mary and thus they deny His Godhood. Jehovah’s Witnesses claim that Jesus was the first creation of God. But God cannot be created, otherwise He would not be God. Therefore, they too deny the divinity of Christ. And there are other modern sects that deny either the full humanity or full Godhood of Jesus. And of course, all such sects are mistaken in their theology.
But Jesus is the Redeemer of God’s elect, therefore it is supremely important that we understand and hold to the proper doctrines concerning our Redeemer.
And because such sects deny Christ as He truly is, the reality is as John says at the end of this 7thverse, when he says:
2 John 7c ESV
7c Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist.
Some of the friendliest people that you could meet belong to some of the sects that I just mentioned. They will come to your home, make you feel like you’re the most important person in the world, and tell you that you belong with them. But the reality is that those who belong to these sects are deceivers.
These people may sincerely hold to their beliefs, but they themselves have been deceived. And in coming to others and convincing them of their deception is itself an act of deception.
But even worse is what John says at the end of this verse when he says that such a deceiver is the antichrist.
Now, when he says that such a one is the antichrist, he isn’t referring to the antichrist prophesied of in the book of Revelation, for he is still to come. But when he calls such deceivers the antichrist, he is pointing out that such a one is anti-Christ, he is anti-Jesus, opposing the truth about Jesus and propagating a lie.
In light of the truth that such anti-Christian spirits abound, John instructs us as to what we should do when he says in verse 8:
2 John 8 ESV
8 Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward.
In light of the false teachings that are always abounding, what John exhorts the members of this church to do is watch themselves.
Now, when he tells them to watch themselves, what he is telling them to do is to adhere to the orthodox gospel and obey the commandments of God in relation to the gospel. And when we are adhering to the orthodox faith, walking in the truth, and obeying the commandments of God, we are protecting ourselves from being deceived by those who propagate a false gospel.
But when John commands us to watch ourselves, he isn’t just telling us to ensure that we ourselves are adhering to the orthodox faith, he is also telling us to watch out for each other.
What this means is that when we as legitimate Christians see others who claim to also be legitimate Christians start to play with fire by associating themselves with those who promote a false gospel and maybe even start to adhere to and promote their teachings, we need to step in and rebuke them.
It also means that more advanced believers have the tremendous responsibility of looking out for those who are not as far advanced in the faith as they are so that those who are not as far along as they are might not fall into error.
John says that if we as legitimate Christians watch out for ourselves and for one another, then those who are destined to inherit the kingdom will indeed inherit the kingdom. Therefore, he urges this church and by extension, urges us today to watch out for one another.
We speak of the eternal security of the believer, or the perseverance of the believer, and while it is God Who is ultimately causing us to remain secure, He has wisely ordained that our perseverance is a community project within the church.
In other words, though it is God Who ensures that we make it to Him in the end, He chooses to use us, Christians helping other Christians to bring about what He has already ordained and is accomplishing.
And while it may be the pastor who is leading the charge of mutual exhortation and edification in a local church, this exhortation is a community project, a responsibility of the entire church. Thus, when John tells this church and by extension tells us to watch ourselves, he means it quite literally. Watch out for our own salvation and watch out for the salvation of our brothers.
He says that if we use the secondary means in which God has appointed; the preaching of the word of God, the mutual exhortation of fellow believers, the consistent study of the word of God, that we will win a full reward in heaven.
But he says that if we do not take advantage of such secondary means that God has provided us with, then we will lose what those who came before us worked for, when they preached to us, taught us, evangelized us.
And furthermore, it will show that we were never truly saved to begin with.
John makes this plain in the last verse of our reading when he says:
2 John 9 ESV
9 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.
John speaks here of both abiding and not abiding. To abide means to remain, to not be moved. And what he speaks of abiding, or remaining in is the teaching of Christ. The orthodox teaching of salvation by the grace of God alone, effected solely by the blood of Christ, the One Who is both fully God and fully man.
So, John says that if one goes ahead, that is, picks up their ball and goes home, if one decides to not believe in the orthodox gospel that they once claimed they believed, then that one does not have God.
Now, to say that such a one does not have God suggests that regardless of how true they feel their new unbiblical position is, because it is not biblical, because it is not orthodox, it is void of God, void of the truth. They may believe with all of their heart that God is promoting the heretical understanding that they now hold to, but as John makes plain here, that is most certainly not the case.
No matter what they believe, if they do not abide in the orthodox teaching of Christ, they will be as those spoken of by Jesus Himself in John 15:6, when He says:
John 15:6 ESV
6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.
Such a one may initially believe that his newfound heresy is the greatest thing that ever happened to him, but in time, it will fail him, and at the end of the age, he will be gathered by God’s angels and cast into the Lake of Fire.
But John also says at the very end of our reading that whoever abides, or remains in the orthodox teaching of Christ, such a one has believed correctly and possesses true salvation. He says that such a one has both Father and Son and will indeed persevere until the end.
And as was said before, God has wisely ordained the means of our perseverance to be the preaching of His Word, the partaking of the sacraments, and the mutual edification and exhortation of believers.
Beloved, God calls us to watch ourselves, to watch out for ourselves and for each other. Therefore, let us love one another by obeying this command.
Amen?