Uncomfortable Christianity Week 8 • 2 John

Show Notes

Sunday, February 26th • Beau Bradberry

"Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward." — 2 John 1:8

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Beau Bradberry

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Thanks for listening.

Good morning.

Glad that you guys are here with us today.

If you've got your Bible, go ahead and open it up to 2 John is where we're going to be.

I want to thank Dave for speaking for me last week, sharing God's Word.

I was off having the wonderful privilege of suffering for the Lord in West Virginia, skiing

with our middle schoolers and high schoolers.

It was a wonderful experience.

It was great.

I had the opportunity to laugh and tell some stories with some parents and some grandparents

this morning, just how wonderful and funny their kids are, whether they meant to be funny

or not.

It was just a wonderful time of together, but you know, it's good.

It took till about Friday of this week for my soreness to get gone, and so it seems like

every year out of my 30s is another day that it takes to recuperate from something like that.

I was telling Dave, I don't know if you know this or not, Dave's a little bit older than

me, and so, sorry Dave, and I came in, and Dave's always going skiing with us, and Dave's

a phenomenal, phenomenal skier.

Like Dave zipping down through the mountain, Chad Frye's seen him.

He knows what it's like.

Just watching Dave go through the body control, just it is fantastic.

But I walked in, kind of had this little limp going on.

I said, Dave, let me tell you what happened.

I said, I got hurt.

He said, what happened?

I said, well, I went down to Black Diamond, and I went down to Black Diamond four times

with students, teaching them how to do a Black Diamond.

And it wasn't that.

He said, well, what happened?

I said, I was out at the lodge, and if you've been to Winter Place before, you know there's

the lodge, and you have to ski down this little hill to get to the ski lifts.

I was out at the lodge, and I laid my skis down, and I took my left boot, and I clicked

in.

I took my right boot, and I clicked in.

I took my ski poles and put them in my left hand, and I thought, let me see what Twitter's

got to say as I go forward down this little hill that anybody can do.

And so I'm standing there like this, and I take the poles, and I push off.

And all of a sudden, this beautiful thing called gravity kicked in.

And I had not clicked in my right boot all the way because of the ice that was frozen

on the bottom.

And as ungracefully as it could be, I simply just went, thunk, and looked at my wife and

said, that hurt, as she laughed.

And then, till Friday, right here, my hip hurt.

So, you know, it's no great story of this jump that I was doing.

It was simply a fat old man standing on the side of a slope looking at his phone when his

ski came off, and he fell over.

That's my story of the ski trip.

But it was a wonderful, wonderful time together.

I told Dave, and then Dave looked at me, and Dave's kindness and compassion and grace and

said, Bo, it doesn't get better, right?

So that's the bit of encouragement that I leave you with this morning.

And some of you have already learned that life lesson, and some of you are going to learn

it shortly as I'm learning it right now.

It just doesn't get any better.

Well, we are, we're in the last two weeks of this study in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John.

So this week, we'll look at 2nd John.

Next week, we'll look at 3rd John.

And then I'm excited, on March 12th, we're going to begin this journey.

And I say journey, because it's going to take us a while to do it.

We're going to go through the book of Genesis together.

Now, we'll take some strategic breaks as we walk through Genesis together.

We'll take breaks around Easter, graduate recognition, different times at work, and we have

guest speakers.

But to really dive through, I've been spending a lot of time over the last several months

reading through 1st, 2nd, and, well, I'm sorry, Genesis 1 and 2, studying creation.

I got 1st and 2nd stuck in my brain with John right now.

But reading Genesis 1 and 2 and studying creation, just all the beauty of what God teaches us about

Himself and His love for us and His plan and redemption as we look at Genesis.

So we're excited about that.

There's also, there's another announcement that I'm going to share with you guys this morning

that didn't make it.

Because we're working out the details this week.

But we will be doing an adult mission trip this spring.

So if you want to jot these dates down, we're going to do an information meeting coming up soon.

But I want to get these dates out to you for you to be thinking about it.

On May 17th through the 22nd, so that's a pretty quick trip that we're going to do.

That's a Wednesday through a Monday.

We're going to send a small team from Willow Ridge to Salt Lake City to work with Dustin

Stotman and Hope Valley Church.

We're going to be doing some outdoor relational evangelism outreach with them there.

It was funny.

He and I were talking.

And I don't know about y'all, but it got hot here this week, right?

So I was talking to Dustin and I was like, how do these dates work?

We were looking at a bunch of different times.

And he said, you know, these dates would really be good toward the middle of May.

And he said, because there'll be people coming out to parks in the evening time.

Because, you know, up until then, it's been a little too cold to do that.

So here's what I'm offering you.

When it's 105 degrees here in the shade, go to Salt Lake City and serve the Lord in a nice

70 degree evening, okay?

That's what you'll have the opportunity to do.

So if you're interested in that, we'll have a sign up for the interest meeting.

But if you would like to let me know, like Dave said, I'll be back in the back and you

can share that with me.

Excited.

It's a wonderful trip.

If you've been on many mission trips, it's a wonderful one to go on.

If this is your first time going on a mission trip, be a wonderful trip.

Basically, what we'll do is we'll do ministry Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

We'll worship with them Sunday.

Spend some free time around the greater Salt Lake area Sunday afternoon to Sunday evening.

And then we'll return on Monday morning.

And so a wonderful time to do that.

So, but let's go ahead and we're going to jump into 2 John.

Now, we're going to do 2 John a little differently than we did as we had sections that we could

break 1 John into.

2 John is really short.

So here at the beginning of the message, we're going to read all the way through with taking

some breaks and talking a little bit about what John is writing about to give us context.

But then we're going to come back at the very end, kind of the last quarter of the message

and really dive into the first four verses of 2 John.

So let's just go really quick, four sections that we're going to read and talk through this.

So John is going to begin in these first three verses by giving us his greeting to the recipients

of this letter.

John writes and says,

grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father's Son in truth and love.

So here we have the introduction, the greeting of this letter.

So here's who John's talking about.

We see some names, but we don't see the name.

So who's writing this?

So John is writing this and John is the elder.

Now we don't necessarily believe that John is the elder of the church that he is writing to as we have elders of our church.

But think of this in a large structure sense like a denomination.

And so John is an elder that is over, that has authority, that speaks to many different churches.

And so John is the elder who is writing.

Now the elect lady is the church as a whole.

So instead of writing to the name of this church or the name of churches in a region that we see in a lot of Paul's letters,

John writes and uses a theological term of the elect and the lady, the bride of Christ, is the church.

And then her children are those who make up the church.

And so this is who is going to receive this letter from John.

Now in this, John says who the true church is.

And it's going to be very important as we read down through this.

It's not just, well, if you attend, if you've associated, if you say that this is where you are.

But John defines this a little bit of saying who the church is.

They are those whom he loves in truth and those who know the truth.

And the truth that we are talking about is the truth of the gospel.

It's going to be the standard.

It's not the truth of facts.

It's not the truth of circumstances.

But it's the truth of the gospel.

It's what identifies us as a body of believers.

It's what identifies this church as a body of believers.

It is the truth of the gospel.

And this truth in many ways has been attacked.

Now, kind of alluded to this here, this truth that he speaks to is more than what is known.

Right?

More than what is known.

Like, we can speak about truths of things that we know.

Like, I can tell you that I know for a fact a truth is that it is cold in Antarctica.

And I believe that.

I've seen pictures.

I've read stories.

I know the facts of Antarctica.

But I haven't experienced that myself to speak from experience.

And so John writes this.

He says that truth is more than what is known because he defines truth as the truth that abides in the believer.

Right?

And because this truth abides in the believer, it permeates their whole existence.

So from their head to their toes, to their thoughts, to their mind, to their will, in all of these, the truth abides in them.

And so there's no part of their being, of who they are, that this truth does not impact, that this truth does not reach.

And John says in this introduction that this truth is an eternal truth.

It's a not-changing truth.

It's a not-dying truth.

This truth lives forever, is what John says.

And then at the end of this greeting, John gives a promise.

Grace, peace, and mercy.

Grace, peace, and mercy will be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father, Son, in truth and love.

So that this is what you want.

This is what you desire.

You desire the grace of God, the peace of God, the mercy of God.

Because God is the one who gives these, and we're promised them when we remain in him, when we remain in the truth, and we remain in the love, that this abiding is what we see.

So this is the introduction.

A lot of truth, a lot of love, a lot of promises, a lot of encouragements, as John Wright says.

So let's look.

He gives an exhortation in verses 4 through 6.

He says, I rejoice greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth.

And remember, he's talking to the church as a whole.

So he says, I 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, and that we love one another.

And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments.

And this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it.

Now, this is really a neat letter, and it's different from sometimes things that we see.

This is an exhortation that John is giving.

Now, there's going to be a piece of a rebuke that comes out of John's warning that he gives.

But as he writes to those that are going to be reading this letter, this is not from a heart of John of I've got you, a rebuke of coming to you.

But instead, what we see from within the midst of this church, we find these children, and here we see John's pleasure with them.

And he shares that he's rejoicing as he has received the news of them.

Now, the news that he has received is news that has come out of not a great situation.

The news that he receives is that there's been a division in the church.

There's been trouble in the church.

We've seen in 1 John where the heretics, and there's the divide and the division that takes place.

And so that's what's been set.

And so 2 John has then written to them that many people, as he's found out, have left to follow these false teachings.

There's many who have bought into the heresies.

There's many who have rejected the biblical Christ that we know.

But John rejoices in those who have remained faithful to the truth.

And then we see in these verses, we see some writing that's very similar to 1 John.

He says, not a new commandment, but one from the beginning.

Not a new commandment, but the one that you know.

To what?

To love one another.

To love one another.

And then in verse 6, he explains that.

What I spoke about a couple weeks ago, that love is an obedience to the Lord.

It's an obedience to God.

And so this is what we talked about.

How do I love the Lord?

How do I love others?

What that is summed up in is not some earthly definition of what love looks like.

But John says it in 1 John.

He says it again in 2 John, that if you want to love God, if you want to love others, then his words here are,

He says it again in 2 John, that if you want to love others, you want to love others, you want to love others, you want to love others, you want to love others.

That's how you love the Lord.

You're obedient to him.

But in verses 7 through 11 here, John's going to give us his warning.

He says,

He says,

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.

And these are some harsh words and some warnings that John gives us.

What you see is he describes the deceivers.

They're the ones who at one point in time were a part of the community.

They would define themselves as a part of the church.

They would define themselves as believers in Christ.

But they have left.

And their break in which they have left is over doctrine.

Now here's the issue that's fleshing out.

This is the issue that's coming forth in this.

Is they refuse to acknowledge that Jesus Christ came in flesh.

They refuse to acknowledge.

They believe that Jesus is spirit and spirit alone.

But to do that would be to reject the humanity of Christ, which is what they are doing.

And so in doing that, they don't acknowledge the humanity.

You can't acknowledge the humanity and the deity of coming together to be the person.

Fully God, fully man.

It's what we know who Christ is.

And so these are the deceivers.

This is the antichrist that he speaks of as they're there.

And so John warns them.

He says, watch for yourself.

And I don't know that there's ever been a point in time in my life when you look at the world that labels itself as Christians,

that these two words don't stand more truth than they do today.

Watch yourself.

In a world where we can jump on YouTube and pull up any heresy that's proclaimed by a pastor who claims to know Jesus but is broken from false doctrine, we can do it.

We can allow it to permeate and penetrate our hearts and our families and our small groups and our churches.

And John says, watch for yourself.

He says, watch your belief so that you don't wander from the faith.

Watch what you know.

Watch what Scripture says.

Cling to this so that you don't wander from this.

But also watch your belief to protect what he says what we have worked for.

What are they working for?

They're working for the spread and for the kingdom of God.

They're working for the mission of God so that those will be known.

They're working for the name of Christ to be exalted.

And that when we break from this, that where we can bring damage to is the mission of God.

And then he says, and those who wander from the truth, they don't have God.

And so when right doctrine, I don't care how entertaining they are to listen to.

I don't care how good they make you feel.

I don't care about the emotions that they can bring on to you.

When right doctrine doesn't match right doctrine of the word, they've wandered from the truth.

John's words, the words of God, they don't have God.

And so he gives warnings.

And his warnings are a picture of hospitality.

And this picture is like, don't offer them this.

It's so dangerous of what they claim.

It's so dangerous of what they're teaching.

That John says, the best thing you can do for the work of God, the best thing you can do for your soul is you reject them.

You reject them.

You cast them out.

You allow them to wander in their sins and their lies and their deceit.

And in that, maybe what God's word teaches us, that they can be brought back in.

But John says, no, we've got to be careful.

We've got to watch this.

And then John gives his closing, verses 12 through 13.

He says, 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.

And I love this.

Because as we read John and we see John in the Gospels and we see this loving characteristic that just flows from him.

He's like, you know, I could write more to you guys.

There's so much more that we could talk about.

But here's the deal.

I don't want to do it on paper.

I want to do it face to face.

In his longing of being there with them.

So in these four sections, and then we're going to move to these first four verses.

Here's what John is pressing toward.

He says, the basis for our relationship, both between John and the church,

which is the basis for our relationship, is the truth of God.

That's it.

That's why we gather.

That's why we're here today.

That's why the Bible defines us as brothers and sisters in Christ.

We're not here because of some secular movement.

We're not here because of a program.

We're not here because of a trip we can offer.

We're here, and the basis of our relationship is the truth of God.

And then the second one, John says, well done.

Well done.

Because here's what you've done.

Those few who are left, those few who have gone through the battle,

is you've stood up for truth.

Now continue in it, right?

It's you've gone through the battle, but there's more battle to come.

So persevere, endure, and in that, right, and in that is the affirmation.

John says that there's deceivers, and what they want to do is they want to pull you away from truth.

That's where Satan works.

That's his attack of mankind in the garden.

He wants to pull you away.

Did God really say?

Does God's word really say?

Did Paul really mean that for today?

Did Jesus really mean?

Let me take you from a standard and move you one step away, and one step away, and one step away.

And what seems like inches becomes miles like that.

And so he warns them.

He says, they're trying to pull you away, and this is so dangerous, what John says.

The one who says love, but they're my neighbors, but they're my neighbors, but have no association with them.

But you don't understand, we were in a group together, have no association with them.

They've wandered from the truth.

They've wandered from the truth.

They've taken others from the truth, have no association with them.

And then John says, he longs to be there with them.

Why?

For truth.

I have more to say.

More to talk about.

There's more truth that we can sit down and unpack together.

And so John's emphasis in these 13 verses that we see in God's word of what we find here is John's emphasis is on truth.

And so what I want us to do is try to look at and understand truth and then how truth applies to our life based off of these four verses.

So let's reread 2 John verses 1 through 4 again.

It says,

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.

And I rejoice greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth just as we were commanded by the Father.

One of the things that I do that I had a seminary professor teach me a long time ago, right?

I was very young in my faith and very raw in ministry and was getting in and trying to understand how to study and accurately teach the Bible.

And he was teaching me just all certain things to look out for, right?

I've been a believer for less than two years.

And he reminded me of the beauty of repetition, that when you see a word written over and over and over again,

pause because we may need to see what that word means.

And so I want to encourage you that in these four verses what we see is the word truth written five times.

And so what we can draw from this is we've seen this whole letter from the skyscraper down view, right?

As we see truth that's there, we want to dive in and understand that biblical truth as the standard.

So let's talk about this word truth for the next 15 minutes.

This word truth.

What do we mean when we say truth?

I speak truth.

I'm going to tell you the truth.

What do we mean?

Does that mean differently for us as believers when we talk about biblical truth?

Because here's what I'm saying, biblical truth, when we talk about biblical truth, we are talking about more than simple honesty.

Now, we're not talking against honesty, right?

That's not what I'm saying.

But the simple statement of true facts, whether they're biblical or circumstantial, when we talk about biblical truth, it's more than that.

It's more than a repetition of things that we know, that we've been told, that we've been talked into believing.

It's more than a simple moment with speaking of a factual existence of what is happening and taking place in the current day in which we find ourselves.

When we talk about biblical truth, we're talking more than about simple, the knowledge of facts.

There's a professor at Harvard.

There's a professor of New Testament theology.

I would argue with you that he knows more knowledge and facts of the Bible than anyone I've ever been around, anyone I've ever read.

He can quote more scripture than anyone that I know.

The problem is, he's agnostic.

So, he can state facts about the Bible.

He can explain the knowledge of those.

But when we talk about biblical truth, it's more than that.

When we talk about biblical truth, it is the moral concept that is rooted in God's character.

Biblical truth is who God is.

And so, with this, when we submit in obedience to biblical truth, we're submitting in obedience to God.

So, when I say, Lord, this is your plan, this is your will, this is what you desire for my life,

I'm not submitting to a rule.

I'm not submitting to a standard.

I am submitting to him because he is truth.

This is the submission to him.

So, on the other side of the coin for that, in our moments of rebellion, when we reject biblical truth, we're rejecting God.

God, I know, right, this is what you call me to, but I'm going to do something different.

Right, that seems, that seems less threatening than heresies, doesn't it?

But it's the same.

God, I know that you actively desire and call me to this truth, but Lord, I'm going to reject it and pursue what I have.

And in that, where we begin is these side shuffles away from truth.

The warning in which John gives us.

So, let's look at knowing biblical truth, knowing biblical truth.

Here in these four verses, truth here, the word that's used five times, carries with it two variations of meanings.

Now, I want to kind of clarify with that really quick, okay, because that can get confusing.

It's the same word.

It's going to carry with it truth of God, but it carries within that a variation of meanings that helps us understand truth a little bit more, right?

So, let me use a word that is common to us that has varied meanings, okay?

I love my wife.

She couldn't be here with us this morning.

My niece is getting baptized at Shandon Baptist Church this morning, and so she's going there to celebrate with her family.

And so, we're excited for Lily as she's getting baptized today.

But I love my wife.

I love everything about my wife.

I love how my wife keeps me in step and in line, right?

Because we need that.

Amen, guys?

Kyle said amen, all right?

The rest of you, Dave's going to do a class on marriage after this, and we all want to go to it.

So, guys, join me.

We all need to be kept in line, right?

Amen, amen, right?

Right?

That's what our wives do, and we love them for it.

And they give us grace and mercy and all of those things packaged up in a nice big package of truth, right?

And we love them for it.

I love my wife.

I couldn't imagine life without her.

I went on our campus of the college that we graduated from yesterday.

And as I was walking around, just thinking through the times where we met and we're there and we had our lunch dates.

And she had to come wake me up in the library and remind me to go to class, right?

So, see, it started then as well, right?

And so, I love my wife.

I love my wife.

I love my wife.

I love tacos, too, though, right?

Right?

I do.

I do.

Like, if you say, do you want to go get some lunch?

It may be.

Well, I don't know.

You say, we're going to a taco truck.

Yes, please.

Like, which one do you want to go to?

I'm down, and I will eat a gross amount of them while we are there.

By the way, quick side story.

It doesn't relate to anything.

When we were skiing, we got done.

I was hungry.

Like, they feed you, like, this much, and I need more than this much with our free meal pass.

So, we went to Taco Bell.

Yeah, yeah.

We went to Taco Bell, and my bill was $14 at Taco Bell, just for me, just for me, which you know, like, whole thing at Taco Bell, eat a lot of food cheaply, right?

So, we walk in.

It's me and about 14 people, adults and kids there, and so all the kids go up to the counter to order, but I see the kiosk, and I'm like, I'm going to bypass all that.

I'm going to go to the kiosk, and so I go in, and I start doing my order, and so I ordered a combo meal, and then I thought, well, you know, those nachos, not the small nachos in the pack that come with the little cheese, but the big nachos, that'd probably be good to go with it on the side, and y'all, I ain't kidding you.

There was a lady and her husband standing behind me to my left.

I had never met them a day before in my life, and she says to me, you going to order anything else?

You know what the Lord did in that moment?

He brought up on that screen, would you like to order Cinnamon Twist?

And I let her, and I said, yes, and I added those, right?

Ate all of it.

Ate all of it, right?

Right?

But it's different, right?

It's different.

It describes something about me.

It describes the person of who I am, but it's different.

And so when we see this, we see this word, truth, that's there.

It's a word that depends on the context of what's meant.

So one of the words that is used for truth, one of the definitions, is divine truth.

Who God is.

It's the gospel.

It's the gospel.

The divine truth of God.

But then the other word that is used in this for truth is the love of truth that displays an action.

The love of truth that displays an action.

So in verse 2, we see this type of truth, this type of truth, this divine truth, truth that abides.

Verse 2.

This is the divine truth.

And so here's what this means.

That the divine truth of the gospel abides in us.

So that this truth is active and it is working in the believer through the work of the Holy Spirit.

So when we're saved, we're not saved and left alone to go wander through this and figure this thing out.

That God loves us so that when he saves us, he sends his Holy Spirit who indwells in us.

And what happens is the truth of the gospel abides in us.

The truth that abides.

But it's also the truth that guides.

Right?

You think guides.

Well, that's active truth.

And it is.

But this word that is used here is divine truth.

When John in verse 4 says, walking in truth.

So it's not just truth that abides in us.

The truth of the gospel that abides in us.

That we know is working in through us.

To work through the thoughts and the ideas and the things that we have.

And it's working out that old character and developing the character of the gospel within us.

That we begin to see the fruit of the spirit.

But it's also in walking in the truth.

The divine truth.

And so we see this in the physical manifestation of a person.

That it can be seen.

And it's tangible to you.

And it's tangible to others.

Is what we find.

And so here then when we see.

What does this mean now to apply this biblical truth?

What does it mean from what John says.

That this truth abides in me.

And that I'm to walk in this truth.

What does it mean that the truth.

How do I apply in my everyday life.

That Jesus Christ is the son of God.

Who died on the cross for my sins.

Who was buried and who rose again.

Who ascended to the father.

Who will return and call his bride back with him.

What does it mean.

For you and for I.

That we are sinners saved by grace.

It's not our own merit.

It's by the work of God.

What is the application.

Of that.

In our life.

And what we see.

Is that it is this truth.

That displays itself.

Is what we find.

It's the truth that shows.

It shows us.

As active lover of truth.

An active lover of truth.

Now six times.

And I'm going to tell you about these.

I'll give you the references.

If you want to jot them down.

That's great.

But six times.

In six different encounters.

Let me rephrase it that way.

In six different encounters.

In the New Testament at least.

We see this variation.

Of this word truth used.

And I loved as I was reading through this.

This week sitting in my office.

Because every single time I'm like.

Okay that's what this means.

That's what this looks like.

That's what it says.

That it shows me.

That I'm a person.

That's been saved by the gospel of Jesus Christ.

That I am no longer who I was.

But I am new.

And now this is a tangible piece.

Of what this means.

To go out into this world.

And it's not a thought that I have.

It's not something that I know.

But this permeates from me.

As the truth of God abides in me.

And calls me to walk in the truth of God.

This is what this looks like.

This is one of the most exciting things.

That I'm able to see.

As I walk through and saw these words.

So I'm going to start probably with the one that's the least exciting for all of us.

Paying taxes.

Yay.

Right?

Yay.

That's nice.

Paying taxes.

In Matthew 22.

Mark 12.

And Luke 20.

Jesus is asked about paying taxes to Caesar.

Now.

Regardless of what you think about the government.

In which we have.

And we're not going to have a conversation about it.

In here or out there when we leave.

Okay?

Let's just go ahead and set that.

Right?

Regardless of what you think.

This is not the oppression of Rome.

It's not.

Rome would do things like.

When you step out of bounds.

You know.

They didn't come up with crucifixion for Jesus.

They had this.

And what made the crucifixion of Jesus.

Kind of remarkable.

And how God orchestrated these things.

Was the common practice was.

When someone was crucified on the cross.

They were left on the cross.

Until all of their flesh decayed.

And just their bones hung on the cross.

As a warning.

Don't do that.

Here's what will happen.

So what they would do.

Is when you stepped out of line.

They would take you.

And you're going to be crucified.

So they'd crucify you.

They would take you on the journey.

Remember how they had Jesus carry his cross.

They would have them carry their cross.

And you'd carry your cross.

And you'd carry your cross.

And you'd carry your cross.

And then finally you would collapse.

On the road in which you found yourself.

And they would stop right there.

They would dig a hole.

They would drop your cross.

Right into that hole.

On the journey in which you were.

And then you would be hung on that cross.

Crucified on that cross.

Your family.

Your friends.

Your neighbors.

Everyone would see you.

And when you were dead.

And your body hung there.

It was the reminder.

To not step out from Rome.

Right.

So Jesus is asked.

By the Pharisees.

Well the Bible tells us.

In these passages.

That the Pharisees.

They like to question Jesus.

But their questions for Jesus.

Were not like questions.

That we ask.

Right.

They were questions.

To try to trap Jesus.

And so the Bible tells us.

That the Pharisees.

Were seeking to trap Jesus.

And as he approached.

They call to him.

But they say.

To the one that is true.

And teaches the way.

Of God.

Truthfully.

Right.

And when they use that word true.

That's the word.

Of lover of truth.

And then they say.

To him.

Should they pay taxes.

To Caesar.

Well.

We don't have time.

To get into.

All of.

Of what is going on.

But Jesus says.

Give to Caesar.

What is Caesar.

And give to God.

What is God's.

And here's what Jesus describes.

Our ethic.

Our ethic.

So who we are.

In Christ.

The truth.

Of the gospel.

Defines our very ethic.

Not just where we're at.

In church.

Not just where we're.

In Bible study.

But it defines.

Our very ethic.

Even all the way.

To the extreme.

Of paying taxes.

To an oppressive government.

Who wants to kill those.

Who are unjust.

Who wants to kill.

Unjustly.

Right.

Jesus says.

This is.

If I'm a lover of truth.

This is what defines me.

Not only in paying taxes.

But we see in John.

4.

And 23.

And 24.

That Jesus describes.

This is true worship.

True worship.

The lover of truth.

And true worship.

Jesus.

This is the woman.

Jesus.

And the Samaritan woman.

At the well.

And she's discussing with Jesus.

She's asking.

There's so much.

In this passage of scripture.

So rich.

With truth.

And application for our life.

But she's asking Jesus.

What true worship is.

And he says.

We worship him.

God is spirit.

And so we worship him.

In spirit.

In truth.

Right.

And so our worship.

Isn't just this spiritual act.

Of what's taking place.

But our worship.

Comes from.

That we are the lovers.

Of truth.

It's the declaration.

Of who we are.

It's in those pieces.

Where we don't just check.

The worship box.

Because we gathered in a room.

And sang songs.

That we have within us.

This worship of him.

In our lifestyle.

And in our life.

As we pursue.

The obedience.

To his desires.

For our life.

In John 8.

44.

Jesus is describing Satan.

And this type of truth.

Is given as the description.

Of what Satan lacks.

This.

This should pause.

Some of our hearts.

Okay.

Satan.

Knows.

Who.

Jesus.

Is.

Satan.

Knows.

In his.

Factual.

Knowledge.

Of Christ.

His.

Factual.

Knowledge.

Of God.

The Father.

God.

The Son.

God.

The Spirit.

Is accurate.

The problem.

Is the application.

The problem.

Is the surrender.

The problem is.

Satan.

Wants to take.

And has taken.

Those large steps away.

From the truth.

And made himself.

His own God.

Talked about this before.

And he heard it again.

Be careful.

That your faith.

Is the faith.

Of a believer.

In Christ.

And be careful.

That your faith.

Or your belief.

Is not the belief.

Of Satan.

And demons.

Satan.

Knows truth.

But he's not a lover.

Of the truth.

In Ephesians 4.

24.

And 5.

9.

Paul writes.

As the picture.

Of now.

Of who we are.

In Christ.

It is the picture.

Of ourself.

In verse.

Chapter 4.

Verse 24.

He describes.

The new self.

As that.

That's true.

In righteousness.

In chapter 5.

Verse 9.

He says.

Walk as children.

Of light.

As you walk.

In that.

Which is.

True.

So what's the self-examination.

It's a look into the mirror.

It's an evaluation.

Of who we are.

Does what I say.

Match with what I do.

Does what I believe.

Match with.

Who I am.

And in that.

We find the application.

Of the gospel.

And then.

Lastly.

And we'll close with this.

In Philippians 1.

18.

It describes the message.

That we're carrying.

The message.

Marked in the truth.

Of God.

So not.

Just.

In the proclamation.

Of the divinity.

Of Christ.

The divine truth.

Of the gospel.

That must be shared.

But in the application.

For us.

Paul tells them.

Carry it.

As you speak it.

And this is the hope.

That we have.

I want to ask you this in closing.

Where are you with truth?

Where are you with truth?

Do we just want to know more?

And know more?

And know more?

And then pick and choose?

What we want to do with that?

Or do we want to take what we know?

And submit to the Lord?

Do we want to take what we know?

And apply it to our lives?

Do we want to take what we know?

And go through the process.

Of allowing the Holy Spirit.

To mold us.

And shape us.

In who God would be.

Well that begins.

Church for us.

With our knees before him.

And a brokenness before God.

Claiming that we need to be.

People.

Who not only know truth.

But people of truth.

Would you pray with me?

God I thank you so much Lord.

For this time and this day.

That we could gather in this place.

Lord I thank you.

That what bonds us together.

As a body of people.

Is not where we've all come from.

Because we've come from many different places.

That not the neighborhood.

That we find ourselves in.

Because we range in where we live.

And not the education.

That we've obtained.

Lord because that is different.

From person to person.

But I thank you Lord.

What bonds us.

What brings us together.

Is the truth of Christ.

The truth of who he is.

That Jesus Christ.

Is the king of kings.

And the lord of lords.

He's the son of God.

Born of a virgin.

Lived a sinless life.

Died on a cross.

And was resurrected.

And it is from him.

We are given.

Freely.

The beautiful gift of salvation.

But God I worry Lord.

That so many of us.

In our hearts.

In our hearts.

Say well I know that.

I know that.

I know that.

I've been taught that since I was little.

I heard it last week for the first time.

So I'm saved.

I'm good.

But yet Lord.

There's this call from your word.

And Lord.

And if we're truly saved.

There should be a drawing.

And a pleading from the spirit.

To point us to an application of the truth.

So that what we know about Jesus.

Is not found in what we can say.

Or articulate on a paper.

But it's shown in the very fiber and being.

Of who we are.

That it's made manifest amongst us.

So that we live it.

That we share it.

That it's seen.

That it's tangible.

That men and women of faith can look at us.

And Lord.

They can see where we were.

And they can see where we are today.

They can see that we're no longer who we were.

But who we are in Christ now.

And it changed the way that we love one another.

The way that we pray for one another.

And it impacts.

And it permeates.

As we abide.

And walk.

Let's in Jesus' name pray now.

Yesterday.

When I was walking the campus.

The school that I graduated from.

I was talking to another dad that was there.

We were walking around.

And he said.

Does this campus have a.

Baptist student union.

If you go back a long time ago.

You know that Southern Baptist.

We had Baptist student unions.

And I said.

Yeah it's a BCM now.

And he said.

So they have BCM.

And I said.

Yeah they have BCM.

And he said.

When you went here.

Were you part of that?

And I said.

No.

I wasn't.

And he kind of looked at me surprised.

Because he knows I'm a pastor.

Right?

Pastors are supposed to be part of Christian organizations.

When they were younger.

And I said.

No.

I said.

I didn't get saved until I was 22.

And kind of looked in his eyes.

I was surprised.

And he said.

Were you raised going to church?

I said.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I was raised.

Going to church.

Mom and daddy who loved the Lord.

Who taught me the gospel.

Who lived out the gospel.

I went to RAs.

I went to youth camps.

I went to world changers.

And I went to lock-ins.

And I went to youth nights.

And I went to vacation Bible schools.

I did it all.

I was part of college leadership team as a non-believer.

Why?

Because I thought I was a believer.

And everybody else did too.

Why?

Because I knew things.

I could answer questions.

I could use the Christianese language that we say from time to time.

And what I did was convince myself and convince others.

Now I'm good.

I'm good.

And every day God burdens me for people in this world who are that.

You know stuff.

You can talk just as good as any pastor can about the Bible.

You can walk through.

You can tell people about Jesus.

You understand the cross.

You understand redemption.

You understand grace.

You know.

But your life is so void of the truth of God.

But you've convinced yourself a lie.

And so, on June 1st, 2001.

I said, God, you've got all of me.

I said, God, you've got all of me.

You've got all of me.

Show me your heart.

I said, God, you've got all of me.

I said, God, you've got all of me.

I said, God, you've got all of me.

I said, God, you've got all of me.

I said, God, you've got all of me.

I said, God, you've got all of me.

I said, God, you've got all of me.

I said, God, you've got all of me.

I said, God, you've got all of me.

I said, God, you've got all of me.

I said, God, you've got all of me.

I said, God, you've got all of me.

I said, God, you've got all of me.

My concern for so many of us in here today is we walk in here with this false sense that

we're saved because we know a few things that we can walk out of here and bust the gates

of hell wide open.

So in only a way that you can search your heart through the gates of the Lord, just ask yourself,

has it moved from here to here?

And I think that's what it means when we say things like, I want Jesus to come live

in my heart.

Because what that means, I think when we say that, is that I want Jesus to permeate through

every part of who I am, that I want to be changed and transformed, that I want the old to be gone,

and I want the new to come, and I want to live for his name and for his glory.

Thanks again for listening to the Willow Ridge Church weekly podcast.

We hope that you enjoyed listening to this week's message.

If you'd like to learn more about who we are or explore additional resources, visit us online

at www.willowridgechurch.com or by searching for Willow Ridge Church on Facebook and Instagram.

Thank you.

Thank you.