Mills, John Milton: 2 John Chapter 2; ~ 2 John 2;

Second John. Let me read you the entire chapter, though I shan't be able to cover the entire chapter, but as time goes, we'll see how far we get. I'm doing this because considering the first epistle took us to the third epistle, and there is one more portion from the third I would like to give you, but not now. But tonight, let's read from the second epistle, since we're reading from the writings of John to individuals and his children. There are a few variations in the nineteen oh in the King James. Notice them. See what you deduce from them. The elder unto an elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not I only, but also all they that know the truth, for the truth's sake which abideth in us, and it shall be with us forever. Grace, mercy, peace shall be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love. I rejoice greatly that I have found of thy children walking in truth, even as we receive commandments from the Father. And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote to thee a new commandment, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another. And this is love, that we should walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, even as ye heard from the beginning, that ye should walk in it. For many deceivers are gone forth into the world, even they that confess not that Jesus Christ cometh in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist. Look to yourselves, that you lose not the things which we have wrought, but that you receive a full reward. Whosoever goeth onward and abideth not in the teaching of Christ hath not God. He that abideth in the teaching, the same hath both the Father and the Son. If anyone cometh unto you and bringeth not this teaching, receive him not into your house and give him no greeting, for he that giveth him greeting partaketh in his evil works. Having many things to write unto you, I would not write them with paper and ink, but I hope to come unto you and to speak face to face, that your joy may be made full. The children of thine elect sisters salute thee. Let us speak to God again in prayer. Our Father, how long are some of the portions of thy word that thou dost write to us? How brief are others? We thank you for them all. Thou hast given thy servants some one talent, some two, some five. We are thankful that you have given ability to some of your servants to write extensively and others to write briefly or in more ways than one, but for every portion of thine inspired word, we thank you. As for the old, so for the new. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable. So, our Father, the profitable things contained in this brief letter that we have read, let us enjoy their profit. Prepare him who speaks and those who hear, and glorify the name of thy Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen. There are thirteen verses in this second epistle. If I challenged you to find how many of these thirteen verses can be traced to the first epistle, how many out of the thirteen do you think we could trace? One, two, four, half a dozen? As many as eight. Think of that. Eight out of thirteen verses, I could go through the first epistle, we shan't, perhaps some other time we shall. We could find that John, from his first epistle, repeats what he wrote to more than one, to one. It teaches us what the Savior said about bringing things out of his treasury, things new and old, and do not think if you had said a thing once to one group that you should never say it again. But do not of necessity think that if you said it one way to one group, it of necessity must be said the identical way to another group. There are subtle variations. This comes to mind. You have in Luke chapter fifteen one parable in three parts, but our Savior who gives the parable in its fullness in Luke fifteen, takes one part out of it, you're familiar with the ninety and nine. and gives that by itself elsewhere in the gospel. And so that's something of interest. I recall as a young man, I would have to get three portions like that in Luke fifteen to give a full message. But afterwards, when you get older, if you have three points, you have to break them down and give three messages, and both are in order to give one with all of its facets of truth, or each one is complete in itself, and you can take it and give it this way. So it is with John. He applies the truth to many, and then he applies it to an individual, and that is the way that I take this epistle. There are many different spiritualizing ways that people take it, but just as if I said there were sisters, Mary and Martha. If I said Mary and Martha were sisters, you would have no difficulty in understanding that. But since no name is given to the recipient of the second epistle, some have looked for a spiritual meaning to it, but I take it in its logical, natural sense, and interpreting it that way as John, though he does not give his name, he calls himself the elder, he is writing unto an elect lady, and the last verse says, the children of thine elect sister salute you. I take it that this is an individual letter written to a sister in Christ, a special sister who had another sister whose children were in the church that John was present in when he wrote this epistle. Just as when it says, the elder unto Gaius the beloved, I take it that Gaius was an individual, not spiritually significant and, uh, symbolical of something else, but Gaia was an individual. I take it this way as well. And saying that, this is what emerges, that John gives us his gospel and three epistles and then his revelation, even though he sets forth himself in each writing in a distinct way. The disciple whom Jesus loves is paramount in his gospel. You do not find that anywhere else in his writings. But when you come to his second and third epistle, he calls himself the elder. And when you come to Revelation, I, John, your brother and partaker with you in the tribulation and patience and kingdom, and so forth. Why he does not produce himself, uh, uniformly, God does not tell us, but he does have his reasons. Keep that in mind. But in his second and third epistle, he announces himself the same way as the elder unto an elect lady, the elder unto Gaia. Now, at this late stage in church history, and I take it that this is ever so late, perhaps from eighty even to a hundred in the first century, here we have this man, the last survivor of the apostles, and the word elder in a different form, Paul speaks of himself as Paul the aged, the same root word, but here John calls himself the elder, as Peter does in chapter five. I am a fellow elder, and so at times, instead of giving their names, they speak of themselves as a fellow elder. I speak of myself as the elder. I speak of myself as Paul the aged, and there are reasons. While they could take many titles that were given them by the Lord himself, John chooses in his second and third epistle to say the elder. Now think of that. In the church, there is only one who would be known by that designation, and that is all he has to write, the elder unto, and then he leaves this woman's name unrecorded. We know of Mary and Martha and Lazarus because of Luke and John, but we would not know of them the same way unless they were recorded in these gospels. But here is one who is of such interest and of such value, importance to John, that he writes her a personal letter. And it's not the elect lady, there's no definite article there. It's simply the elder in the original unto an elect lady. And evidently, in the church, they would know who this person was. Now, I told you last week that Gaia was designated again and again as the beloved, but I told you also that every one of us is designated as beloved. And John, in his first epistle, says beloved, and he calls us that. And so it's a name given to all the saints of God, but it is so characteristic of some individuals that what is true of us in a general sense, in a special sense, it was true of Gaia, and so he's called the beloved. It says in John thirteen, Christ having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them unto the end, but John is the disciple whom Jesus loved. All of them were loved, but only this apostle is pointed out as the signal apostle whom Jesus loved, the disciple whom Jesus loved. Jesus, in an inclusive way, loves us all. We are beloved, and yet some are spoken of as beloved. I counted twelve distinct individuals that are called beloved. You'll find the majority of them in Romans chapter sixteen. names that you would never think of. Percy, whoever heard of a name like that? Stachys and Pliatus, whoever heard of names, and yet they were beloved ones, Paul so designated them. Now, there are also others who are called elect. This woman and her sister were both spoken of as elect, but among all the names that Paul gives in Romans sixteen, I found one who was called the chosen. Remember the word chosen and elect, they come from the same word, and they are variously translated to choose, to select, to elect. But when it says the elect, and when it says we were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, we're speaking of the same root word. And though all of us are elect and chosen for Christ, there are some that are so evidently chosen ones, elect ones, that just as Gaius is called beloved in the midst of all who are beloved, so there are some among the elect that John looks at and he says, you are an elect sister. And the Lord Jesus said the same thing from heaven. Concerning the Apostle Paul, he said, go thy way. He is a chosen and elect vessel unto me. Well, all of us are elect vessels, yes, but he is so special that he is designated that way in a significant way, in a signal way, and so a chosen vessel. And so, as Gaia is characterized by the descriptive word, the beloved, so this woman is called the elect. We have a gospel that was written, and he tells us that men may believe that Jesus is the Christ, and that believing they may have life in his name. And then he writes for fourteen specific reasons. I could give you the word groso occurring thirteen times, and also this, that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you also that he uses the word declare one time, but then thirteen times he uses the word I write unto you, and then he tells why he writes. And now he is writing to this elect lady, an individual, and then he's writing to a man, and then he writes prophetically as the Savior spoke of the Spirit guiding into all the truth, and he shall tell you things to come, and the most extended book on things to come is the book of Revelation. And so John writes in all of these areas. He has something for the unsaved, he has something for the church in a variety of ways, and then he has something for individuals, and no one could criticize him. He writes to Gaius, a man, and he writes to an elect lady, but also and her children, a family. And this is beautiful, how he leaves out no one. Yes, it is important that I write a gospel for the world because God wants the world to be saved, and I write that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ and that you may be saved and so forth. And then he says, feed my lambs and feed my sheep, and that's what he does. As a whole, he feeds them in his first epistle, and then he writes to individuals, a sister and a brother, special, prominent ones in the church. Now, I'm wondering if you sisters, now here is where you could shine. I wonder if God could ever date or designate you as an elect lady. You can claim that title if you are a sister in Christ, you could be called an elect lady. But there are some who are called the man of God. There are some that are called beloved, and there are some that are called elect, because in a signal way, their election is manifest. This is what it says in the first epistle to the Thessalonians. Knowing, brethren beloved of God, your election, how that our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance. Paul understood that here were some of the elect because certain characteristics were manifested, and he knew it. And in like manner, here is a woman, and as the Savior said from heaven, he's a chosen vessel. The Apostle Paul looked at this woman of God, and he said, this is an elect lady. He does not have to tell what her name is, and he does not specialize her in saying the elect lady to the exclusion of others, but he says an elect lady, a sister in Christ that has something special about her. I said, I could wish that I could be called beloved in a special way, and I could wish that I were called elect in a special way. In a general way, I can say I'm of the elect, I'm beloved, but in a way that manifestly is shown in my life that I am beloved, I deserve that name, that I am among the elect. It is evident by the life that I use. He's a chosen vessel. When they looked at Samuel, it said they knew that he was destined to be a man of God, a prophet in Israel. Why? They could see it in the man. And among Christians, some of us, we look and say, well, this sister professes faith in Christ. This man says that he's saved, but Paul says, here is an elect sister, an elect lady. And as the Savior looked at Nathaniel and he said, behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile. Do not be satisfied with being saved, being an ordinary Christian. Let there be signal singled out in your life, characteristics that people would, will, will be compelled to say, this is a special servant of God. This is one that is beloved in a special way. That is what we desire, not mediocrity, not the same things said by grace of all of us, but as Paul said, I labored more abundantly than they all. Paul, the worker for God, that's what we want. And Paul speaks of her, and think of it now, her and her family, and then her sister is called your elect sister, and her children salute thee. Thank God, two sisters, and their husbands aren't mentioned. Why? I wonder if, as in the case of Eunice, they married Gentiles, and their husbands are unsaved, or are their husbands dead? I cannot tell you. If there is a man, it's like the Lord Jesus talking to that woman at the well of Samaria. He says, go call thy husband. But here, and I've had occasion to give thank you notes to sisters. Why? Because the husband may be saved, he may not be, and the sister showed me a kindness, perhaps entertained me in her home, and so I write a thank you letter to her. Whatever the reason, it is not a man to whom John writes, but it is an elect lady, and she has a family, and among that family are those who are saved, and she has a sister, and that sister has children who are saved, and that is what is so encouraging, to find a family such as Mary and Martha and Lazarus, and then to find two sisters who have children who are going on in the Lord. Can you say that? If you can say, I'm saved, thank God for that. Tell me, can it be said of you and your children that they are walking in the truth? Well, that's a different matter, which brings me to this. Today, a letter went off written by my hand, similar to the one written by John to this elect lady. Let me explain. It says here that he loves this woman in truth. He speaks of her children, and it says this, that he rejoiced greatly in verse four, that I have found of thy children walking in truth. How would you parent, if your children were off at school somewhere, like to receive a letter from a respected servant of God saying, your children are walking in the truth? Would it move you? You say, oh, would to God that such a thing were true. I was in a city, and the son of this friend of mine had a son. His son was with me in this church, and I looked at him conducting himself as a man of God, taking on and carrying on the duties that his father was upholding, and it rejoiced my heart because I saw this son walking in the truth. And what do you think I did? I sat down and wrote him a letter and told him about it. Now, would you do such a thing? What would it mean to you if your child were in a distant city and you're praying for him? Do you remember how Job prayed for his children? It may be that they have sinned against God. The father was carrying on for someone to write and tell you that your children was walking in the truth, your child was walking in the truth, carrying on for God as you would want him to. What would it mean to you? Well, whatever it might mean, I wrote and told this brother, I found of thy children walking in truth, and that's what's so important. He found it, and I wrote about it, and I'm going to say something here. I was preaching in Fayetteville, and Lacey Buffalo's daughter, I don't know what she's doing now, but she came out with her children and her husband at times. She was at the meeting, and I rejoice in that. I was going to write you that, Lacey, but I didn't have time, and so I saved what a stamp cost. But I'm able to say that I found because some will say, now my child is in town. They phoned me at Goldsboro. Now, if he comes out to the meeting, will you be kind to him? Yes. I never had to show that kindness. Why? He never shows up in the meeting. Or go see my child, and I go see the child or something like that, telephone him, contact him, welcome him to the meeting. Never shows up at the meeting. And so think of a parent who, when the child is gone, she's done what she could to bring him up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and then she receives a letter from a servant of God saying, I found your child walking in the truth. That is partly why this epistle was written. And so some letters, you open them with trepidation, and yet you read them, and you find out that your child is going on for God. And so will you do that? I told you how much it would mean to Gaia to have a letter written by the beloved, the apostle whom Jesus loved, to write and say, Gaia, I love you in truth. And now he says the same thing concerning an elect lady and her children. He says, I love them in truth, but he thinks back over the behavior of her offspring, and he says, I rejoice greatly that I have found certain of thy children walking in truth. And so let it be a joy to you. You bring your children up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, but then, as Paul said when he left Ephesus, he said, I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able. That's the only thing you can do. You can train that child, but then when the child leaves you, then the child is on his own, and you trust that all of your efforts have not been in vain. And so this elect sister and her elect sister both had children, and they were in touch with John, because the last verse says, the children of thine elect sister salute thee. And so they were with John. And just as when the, uh, epistle to the Romans is being written, I, Tertius, who write this epistle, salute you, so they were with John, and to think, my child is not home, but he is in fellowship with Christians, and he has one to take care of him, the beloved apostle, the apostle whom Jesus loved, and it rejoiced his heart. Now, it's not always so. Some people are jealous when they hear of other children going on, whereas their children do not go on. I think of this, when the Jews of Jerusalem heard what was going on at Antioch, they said, Barnabas, you had better go up and see what's happening there. These are Gentiles, and and we hear certain things that are going on. It said Barnabas, when he got there and looked over the situation, it says when he saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. He saw the grace of God, and he was glad. And John saw the grace of God manifested in the walking in truth of children of an elect lady and the sister, and he said, I'm going to write you about it. And so let me ex- exhort myself and encourage myself. Tell others things that will encourage them. You tell them enough bad things, and you criticize them enough. Tell them good things if you can. We are to encourage one another and exhort one another and bear one another's burdens, and so we need lifts occasionally, and what a lift to hear that the child whom you love, whom you've brought up in the Lord, is going on in the way that you have trained that child to go. Now, this, this is what is so remarkable. It says in verse one that he loves them in truth, and not only I, but also all they that know the truth. What it means is this. It means that if you are a child of God, and you know the truth, and you knew this elect lady, you would love her as well. There's something wrong when you see one who is conformed to the image of Christ, who is signally an elect lady, who is signally beloved as Gaius was. If you do not love them, and if you do not recognize them and love them in truth, there is something wrong with you because, and here is the next step. It says that all they that know the truth love you, and verse two, I have to tell it what it says literally, because of the truth's sake which abideth in us, and it shall be with us forever. You say, that's strange. It sounds as if suddenly truth has been personified. Yes. I remember the Lord Jesus in John's gospel saying, a man that told you all the truth, that told you the truth. And so Christ spoke the truth, but at the same time he said, I am the truth. He spoke the truth, and he was the truth. Now, the holy Spirit in like manner is called the Spirit of truth, but it says also the Spirit is truth. And if you remember that upper room discourse that I preached to you, uh, about, you will remember that the Savior said that I will send you another comforter that he may be with you forever. Now look at that verse. I told you that eight of these thirteen verses are found elsewhere, and here, concerning the abiding of the Holy Spirit in them, look at verse two: For the truth's sake, which abideth in us. Now that could be the word, but it says, and it shall be with us forever. Turn back quickly to First John chapter two and I'll show you what I mean. First John chapter two verse twenty seven. It says this. And as for you, the anointing which you received of him abided in you. This anointing that's abiding in them is the Holy Spirit, and the Savior said in John fourteen that that anointing, the Spirit of truth, would be with them forever. Now look at verse two. It says in verse two about the truth, it says, the truth sake which abideth in us, and it shall be with us forever. You say, well, is he speaking of the truth as the word of God or the Spirit of God? If I ask you, did Jesus speak the truth or was he the truth? You would say both. The way it speaks here, the written word of God, the spoken word of God by the apostles, and the Spirit himself are designated in this same way. And so here is this spirit that is going to be with us, the anointing, and all of it happens because of the truth. Now, I mention it for this reason. Why is it that I love you? It says that at one time I was filled with hate. We hated one another. And it says we love because he first loved us. And why is it now that I know that I am a son of God? It says the Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the sons of God, the Spirit witnessing to us. And it says that everybody loves this elect sister, this elect lady. Why? It says because of the truth's sake that abideth in us, and it shall be with us forever. The spirit of truth also is the Spirit of love. Do you realize that he is called the Spirit of love? It says in the book of Romans, the love of the Spirit. We usually think of him as truth, but he is also the promoter of love as well as the promoter of truth. And just as that spirit bears witness with my spirit that I am a child of God, so that spirit of truth abiding in me, he also promotes my love for those that are lovely and elect and are like the Lord Jesus Christ. And so there's something wrong if a man excels and he's conformed to the image of Christ and there is jealousy. That's what was wrong with Diotrephes. He loved to have the premon. Think of this. Here is the Apostle John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, and he writes a letter to the church, and the Atrophies reject John, that apostle that was so beloved of our Lord. What do you think of him? Do you think that man has the spirit of God promoting in him love for children of God? You say no. There's something wrong when one like Christ is hated by others, and that's true. And so that's what John means when he speaks of this elect lady, and he says, I love you in truth, and everyone who knows the truth loves you. Why? Because of the truth's sake which abideth in us. If you are of the truth, and if the truth abideth in you, it promotes love to those that are like the Lord Jesus Christ. And look at verse three. It says, grace, mercy, peace, and they make it a prayer in the King James, but it says in the Greek exactly like I've read it here. It says grace, mercy, peace shall be with us. Now that's an encouragement. It is not a prayer for something that may be, but it is an assertion of something that is to be. Tell me, is the Holy Spirit going to be with us, and can we send him away? We are filled with the Holy Spirit of promise. He is going to be with us forever and in like manner. What about these qualities, grace, mercy, peace? Shall they be with us throughout our Christian lives? It says they shall be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth, in love. Just this. It says in two Timothy two seven in your King James, it says, consider what I say, the Lord give thee understanding in all things. That is a prayer. That's good. But you'll find that the most ancient manuscripts say this, consider what I say, the Lord shall give thee understanding all things. That is a promise. And here it is not a prayer that God's grace and mercy and peace may be with us. It is a promise that his grace, mercy, and peace shall be with us. And then we can say, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, because as it says in Psalm twenty three, now this blessed inspired apostle tells us that this blessing is ours. And all of this is just in these verses that I've talked to you about from the second epistle of John. Time is gone. Let us pray. Our Father, we are so glad for our portion in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us know that being his is going to cause sorrow. Thy son is a divider. Let us know that there were some like David, and he had a son named Absalom. And let us know that there are others who have friends and their families who are unsaved, but at the same time, our God, these children can give us joy as well as sadness. And so in this case, we pray, as in the case of this elect lady and her children followed the teachings that she gave them in their youth, we pray that it shall be so of all the children of God here who are bringing up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Our Father, we cannot watch over them every minute. They have to leave us eventually, and so our God care for them and let joy be brought to our hearts, and may we receive communications from others telling us that our children are walking in truth. Bless us and bring us joy, as this woman had joy brought to her concerning the report of her children. We ask in the name of Jesus Christ the Lord. Amen. Meeting is over.