“Watch yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward.” (II John 8)
Despite just warning the church about the false doctrines that the antichrists are out propagating in the world, John now turns and admonishes his flock to “watch YOURSELVES.” He didn’t want their focus to be on others, for good or for ill — and for good reason. Continue reading
“For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.” (II John 7)
The Apostle John didn’t mess around with niceties. Those who denied orthodox teaching (“what you heard from the beginning”) were not just people who held a “different opinion” that might have been as valid as his own; no, they were “deceivers”; they were “antichrist.” This business of false teaching was a very serious matter to John — and should be to us as well. Note what he shared concerning these false teachers in this verse: Continue reading
“The elder to the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in truth;” (II John 1)
The second and third epistles of John are generally much less appreciated and referenced than the first. Although I John is a penetrating work which confronts each reader with the need to consider the fruit of their own salvation, his second and third letters challenge Christians today as well. And that challenge begins with the very first verse: “The elder to the chosen lady, whom I love in truth.” Continue reading
“For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith.” (I John 5:4)
SO many evils and troubles exist in our world: sickness, persecution, pain, disappointment, death. How do we overcome these things, which are so pervasive and constantly assault us? They would drive one to despair (and many atheists have indeeed expressed that hopeless perspective). But John gives us the Christian answer here: Continue reading
“For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.” (I John 5:3)
There is a fallacy in the thinking of many people, that there is a distinction between the “love” of God, and the commandments of God; as if one might say: “I am a person of ‘love”, not ‘commandment.'” But here John indicates that there is no such distinction: Continue reading
“We love, because He first loved us.” (I John 4:19)
John tells us in this brief verse God loved us first. This is significant, and makes such a difference in our understanding of our relationship with Him: Continue reading
“By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world.” (I John 4:17)
The Day of Judgment is coming for all men. People should tremble at the thought of it. Yet it is possible to have a confidence about that day, John tells us here — not a worldly self-confidence, but a trust in who the Lord is, and what HE has done for us. Continue reading
It has been very interesting to say the least, to watch the first week of the Presidency of Donald Trump unfold. He has made appointments and issued executive orders which have pleased some, but have infuriated others. But there was, to me, a very telling statement on the CNN news website this week. CNN, as you might expect, has pretty much lambasted President Trump all week. But one day the lead story read that, love it or hate it, President Trump is doing just what he said he would do. And there’s something to that. In an era where we’ve almost come to expect empty words and empty promises in just about every arena of human life, it is somewhat refreshing to see someone actually DO what they said they would!
Last week we saw that John the Baptist came to the people of Israel with a strong message: after 400 years of silence, God sent him with the call to repentance: make a “u-turn” from what you have been doing, and come back to God. And the Bible tells us that people responded to that message. But when they did, John greeted them in an unusual way. Verse 7 says, “But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, ‘You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance.”
We need to understand that the response that John had for those who came out to the Jordan River that day is the message that GOD has for many of us here in America today: “Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.” Don’t just make an empty “commitment” to God; DO what you say you are going to do. If you say you are really repenting and coming back to God, then DO it. “Bring forth the fruit of repentance.”
“Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.” (I John 4:15)
Despite the apparent simplicity of this verse, one should be careful not to take it in a woodenly literal fashion, as a minimalist means of salvation: just confess that Jesus is the Son of God, with no commitment of your life to Him, and you will be saved. For “Exhibit A’, we need only look as far as Mark 5:7: Continue reading
I'm a retired Southern Baptist pastor of almost 40 years. My wife Cheryl & I moved to Norman, OK in March of 2025. I share a weekly overview for Sunday School teachers of the weekly Lifeway "Explore the Bible" lesson, as well as texts of my sermons and other articles.
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