How Not To Get Tricked

WEBVTT 1 00:00:03.240 --> 00:00:12.710 Loves. US turn to John's John. This is the end of your last 2 00:00:17.629 --> 00:00:39.250 the whole things this morning, but will be focusing on all right, let's 3 00:00:39.250 --> 00:00:45.409 give our attention to God's word. Now the elder, to the elect lady 4 00:00:45.450 --> 00:00:49.649 and her children, whom I love in truth, not only I, but 5 00:00:49.770 --> 00:00:54.039 also all who know the truth, because of the truth that abides in us 6 00:00:54.520 --> 00:00:59.880 and will be with US forever. Grace, mercy and peace will be with 7 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:03.120 us from God, the Father, and from Jesus Christ, the father's son. 8 00:01:03.829 --> 00:01:08.670 In Truth and love. I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children 9 00:01:08.709 --> 00:01:14.750 walking, just as we were commanded by the father. And now I ask 10 00:01:14.829 --> 00:01:17.989 you, Dear Lady, not as though I were writing you a new commandment, 11 00:01:18.430 --> 00:01:21.420 but the one we have had from the beginning, that we love one 12 00:01:21.459 --> 00:01:26.340 another, and this is love, that we walk according to the Commandments. 13 00:01:26.060 --> 00:01:30.780 This is the commandment, just as you've heard from the beginning, that you 14 00:01:30.819 --> 00:01:34.769 should walk in it, for many deceivers have gone out into the world, 15 00:01:34.370 --> 00:01:38.930 those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such 16 00:01:38.930 --> 00:01:45.689 a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch yourselves so that you may 17 00:01:45.730 --> 00:01:49.799 not lose what we have worked for but may win a full reward. Everyone 18 00:01:49.840 --> 00:01:53.120 who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not 19 00:01:53.280 --> 00:01:57.519 have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the father and the son. 20 00:01:59.480 --> 00:02:01.989 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not 21 00:02:02.109 --> 00:02:07.110 receive him into your house or give him any greeting. Forever greets him takes 22 00:02:07.189 --> 00:02:10.629 part in his wicked works. Though I have much to write to you, 23 00:02:10.789 --> 00:02:15.030 I would rather not use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to come 24 00:02:15.110 --> 00:02:19.180 to you and talk face to face, so that our joy may be complete. 25 00:02:19.939 --> 00:02:32.650 The children of your elect sister greet you well, as we have heard 26 00:02:34.250 --> 00:02:39.210 in previous sermons to this one, in second John here John Rice to the 27 00:02:39.289 --> 00:02:46.560 church, and he desires to encourage her, to train her, to teach 28 00:02:46.599 --> 00:02:51.840 her and to warn her. He is reminded them, and minded us as 29 00:02:51.879 --> 00:02:54.960 well, of how it is that we come to be the church. We 30 00:02:55.080 --> 00:02:59.990 are those who are born of Christ, we are those who have the grace 31 00:03:00.189 --> 00:03:05.590 and mercy and peace of God. But as we have that word, as 32 00:03:05.669 --> 00:03:08.509 we have Christ in truth and in love, he comes today to give us 33 00:03:08.949 --> 00:03:15.939 a warning. He tells us in verse seven, for many deceivers have gone 34 00:03:15.979 --> 00:03:20.860 out into the world those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in 35 00:03:20.939 --> 00:03:25.539 the flesh. Such a one is a deceiver and the antichrist. I want 36 00:03:25.580 --> 00:03:34.370 to reflect with you this morning on on this warning in verse seven and the 37 00:03:34.490 --> 00:03:39.169 Corresponding Command that's given in verse eight to watch yourselves. This is how we 38 00:03:39.210 --> 00:03:44.159 are not fooled, how we are not tricked, how we are not led 39 00:03:44.240 --> 00:03:51.319 astray. We are guarded by knowing that there is a danger and by being 40 00:03:51.479 --> 00:03:55.229 careful against it. So, as we begin to think about that, let's 41 00:03:55.270 --> 00:04:01.590 begin by thinking about what the church is. The church this elect people that 42 00:04:01.750 --> 00:04:06.030 John is describing here as a body that is born of the word of God. 43 00:04:06.789 --> 00:04:11.659 The church doesn't create the word of God. The church is created by 44 00:04:11.860 --> 00:04:16.339 the word of God and we are called to remain in that teaching. So, 45 00:04:16.620 --> 00:04:19.899 as he says in verse nine, whoever abides in the teaching has both 46 00:04:19.939 --> 00:04:26.610 the father and the son. But one of the things that require is required 47 00:04:26.649 --> 00:04:31.290 to remain in that teaching is guarding ourselves from false words, lies, stories 48 00:04:31.370 --> 00:04:36.250 and peoples that would or people that would set us on different paths. John 49 00:04:36.329 --> 00:04:40.879 has called us to be those who walk in the truth, to walk in 50 00:04:41.079 --> 00:04:45.680 love, implicit in this letter is a command to be generous, to show 51 00:04:45.800 --> 00:04:49.600 hospitality. But, as we see, there's also wisdom that is required in 52 00:04:49.720 --> 00:04:57.670 that we are alive, we have everlasting life because of truth and love in 53 00:04:57.709 --> 00:05:00.709 Christ, and we are to live in truuth and love, and that includes 54 00:05:00.750 --> 00:05:06.110 sharing it with others. But here John is calling us to be watchful in 55 00:05:06.180 --> 00:05:12.060 this world, and one of the reasons that is, and this is where 56 00:05:12.100 --> 00:05:15.019 I want to start. Why this is the case, is because the word 57 00:05:15.139 --> 00:05:20.449 of Christ, the word that Jesus Christ came in the flesh, is a 58 00:05:20.649 --> 00:05:28.689 combative word. It's a combative word and therefore it has enemies. If you 59 00:05:28.769 --> 00:05:33.490 don't realize that are you don't understand that, then you don't yet quite fully 60 00:05:33.529 --> 00:05:39.160 understand the Gospel, not that we ever fully understand the Gospel, but there's 61 00:05:39.199 --> 00:05:45.839 something to be really focused on here, because if we think of the Gospel 62 00:05:45.879 --> 00:05:50.509 as truth and love that have know, that have nothing to do with combating 63 00:05:51.430 --> 00:05:56.589 evil things and even evil things in us, then we don't really understand what 64 00:05:56.870 --> 00:06:00.269 this truth and love is and, in particular, how it's revealed in Christ. 65 00:06:02.230 --> 00:06:06.980 The fact that Jesus Christ came in the flesh, the fact that this 66 00:06:08.100 --> 00:06:13.540 is how we know truth and Love in God, and the fact that it 67 00:06:13.660 --> 00:06:19.569 comes in the form of a cross tells us something very particular. When God 68 00:06:19.769 --> 00:06:26.250 revealed himself in the world and revealed himself through the Cross, he does so 69 00:06:26.490 --> 00:06:32.439 in such a way that it uncovers a self focus. What do I mean 70 00:06:32.519 --> 00:06:38.519 by that? Well, love is, after all, an other focused thing 71 00:06:39.360 --> 00:06:45.120 and ultimately it ought to be grounded and point it directed at God, right, 72 00:06:45.519 --> 00:06:49.790 because to deny God or to not love God but then to love others 73 00:06:49.790 --> 00:06:53.709 is not really to love at all, since he's the source of all these 74 00:06:53.750 --> 00:06:57.829 things. The same with truth. To say that I believe in truth, 75 00:06:57.910 --> 00:07:01.019 I believe in being reasonable, but I'm going to deny the source of truth, 76 00:07:01.379 --> 00:07:08.339 the foundation of truth, the thing that makes truth meaningful and gives it 77 00:07:08.420 --> 00:07:11.819 its shape and its form and makes it what it is, is, of 78 00:07:11.939 --> 00:07:15.889 course, to deny truth, the Cross of Christ. Then, when God 79 00:07:16.050 --> 00:07:21.569 reveals himself in the world through this son and reveals his truth and his love, 80 00:07:23.490 --> 00:07:28.850 it has this way of uncovering idolatry in us. If this is where 81 00:07:28.930 --> 00:07:31.160 truth and love is, and we don't really want to have a pardon it. 82 00:07:31.240 --> 00:07:34.920 In other words, it shows us where our hearts really is, really 83 00:07:34.959 --> 00:07:39.360 are. It shows us what we really do believe. We might talk a 84 00:07:39.560 --> 00:07:45.790 good game about loving and and believing rightly, but if we don't connect that 85 00:07:46.149 --> 00:07:48.470 to who Jesus is, as the one come in the flesh, as the 86 00:07:48.509 --> 00:07:54.550 one who died on the cross, then that's really all it is, a 87 00:07:54.670 --> 00:08:03.420 game, a charade pretending. If, ultimately we are not about receiving the 88 00:08:03.540 --> 00:08:07.620 things that God gives us, but controlling God and exercising our power and our 89 00:08:07.699 --> 00:08:13.290 strength and building our kingdoms, then the cross confronts that. It opens up 90 00:08:13.370 --> 00:08:20.889 and reveals our idolatry. It reveals our desire to obtain great ideals like truth 91 00:08:22.009 --> 00:08:28.120 and love, but on our own and for our glory. That's what our 92 00:08:28.199 --> 00:08:33.840 real desire is. The Cross exposes that our powerful reasoning, our great works 93 00:08:33.879 --> 00:08:41.149 of art, are heroic, selfishness. These things really mean nothing because, 94 00:08:41.149 --> 00:08:46.909 when given the chance, we nailed truth and love to a cross. What 95 00:08:48.070 --> 00:08:54.110 does it mean to establish a magnificent kingdom, to make beautiful gardens, to 96 00:08:54.149 --> 00:09:01.379 right great works of art and then to take truth and love incarnate and nail 97 00:09:01.419 --> 00:09:07.100 him to a cross? It shows where our hearts really are. It shows 98 00:09:07.179 --> 00:09:11.450 what we're really about. We're not about truth. We're not about love, 99 00:09:11.570 --> 00:09:18.169 we're about idolatry, we're about selfrighteousness, we're about chasing after power and pleasure, 100 00:09:20.610 --> 00:09:26.720 when the one who came to save us from our sin was rejected. 101 00:09:26.879 --> 00:09:33.559 This shows us the heart of mankind. And so that's why I say the 102 00:09:33.679 --> 00:09:39.070 cross is a combative thing. It reveals, it uncovers, it exposes and 103 00:09:39.269 --> 00:09:45.750 people hate it. The Cross is not a nice thing. It's a form 104 00:09:45.789 --> 00:09:50.429 of execution. It's not a polite thing. The Cross was an instrument that 105 00:09:50.549 --> 00:09:56.460 use used to kill Jesus, and then God uses it, to put it 106 00:09:56.580 --> 00:10:05.580 in a very strong way, God uses it to kill us. And is 107 00:10:05.740 --> 00:10:13.049 that bad? Only if you think you're good. But it's a good thing 108 00:10:13.889 --> 00:10:18.090 if you realize how bad you are, if you realize that it wasn't just 109 00:10:18.370 --> 00:10:26.679 people out there who murdered Jesus, but it is people and what's in all 110 00:10:26.759 --> 00:10:31.200 of us, by the nature, the fallen nature that we are born into. 111 00:10:33.279 --> 00:10:37.950 And so God, in the preaching of the Cross and the preaching of 112 00:10:37.029 --> 00:10:41.909 Christ, come in the flesh. He puts these things to death. He 113 00:10:41.110 --> 00:10:46.990 puts that old sinful fleshly self to death. He crucifies the sinful flesh and 114 00:10:48.190 --> 00:10:56.460 its desires through this message, through this message of truth and love, which 115 00:10:56.500 --> 00:11:00.940 means you can't come to the cross and not get uncovered. You can't come 116 00:11:01.019 --> 00:11:05.289 to the cross and not get exposed, which means that coming to the Cross 117 00:11:05.330 --> 00:11:13.850 has a measure of embarrassment to it, pain, shame, there's a kind 118 00:11:13.889 --> 00:11:18.559 of wretch, wretchedness, as our sins is brought to lie, as they 119 00:11:18.559 --> 00:11:24.639 are exposed for what they are. But of course it is also a free 120 00:11:24.080 --> 00:11:28.559 of ourselves, as the old man is put to death and the new man 121 00:11:28.759 --> 00:11:35.190 is brought to life in the resurrection of Christ, because we share in his 122 00:11:35.389 --> 00:11:39.950 death that we might share in his resurrection. This is what God does when 123 00:11:39.950 --> 00:11:45.909 he works his what we call his effectual calling, when he calls US under 124 00:11:45.950 --> 00:11:50.100 the authority, in the power of the Cross. He combats us, he 125 00:11:50.139 --> 00:11:54.539 he puts us to death, he conquers us, but he does so to 126 00:11:54.740 --> 00:12:03.889 raise us up in life. You can't come into the knowledge of Jesus, 127 00:12:03.570 --> 00:12:07.529 who came in the flesh, who died on the cross, and remain distant, 128 00:12:09.289 --> 00:12:11.929 not truly. You can't come to the knowledge of Christ and just sort 129 00:12:11.970 --> 00:12:18.440 of observe it and reason your way through it. Not if it's going to 130 00:12:18.600 --> 00:12:22.120 truly affect you, it has to kill you, it has to put you 131 00:12:22.200 --> 00:12:28.399 to death. We have to let our old selves die so that we might 132 00:12:28.000 --> 00:12:33.350 be raised by God. But of course not all come to die, not 133 00:12:33.509 --> 00:12:37.750 all come to pick up their cross and follow after him. Many fight the 134 00:12:37.870 --> 00:12:46.259 cross even as it exposes them. It exposes them and they hate it and 135 00:12:46.500 --> 00:12:52.740 they do not want to accept they do not want to accept that they need 136 00:12:54.100 --> 00:13:00.370 God covered in weakness because they can't are because they can't, and they want 137 00:13:00.450 --> 00:13:07.690 to control God in their strength. God comes in his weakness, God comes 138 00:13:07.730 --> 00:13:11.610 in this Suffering Servant and a crucified savior, and the world says, I 139 00:13:11.690 --> 00:13:16.720 don't want to have anything to do with that. That's not about my beautiful 140 00:13:16.879 --> 00:13:22.799 gardens and my beautiful marbled statues and my works and my politics. And it's 141 00:13:24.360 --> 00:13:28.669 the opposite of all those things. It's not glorious, it's terrifying, it's 142 00:13:28.710 --> 00:13:33.830 suffering, it's painful, it's shameful, it's humiliating. That is the opposite 143 00:13:33.870 --> 00:13:39.110 direction that I want to go. And the word of God says, but 144 00:13:39.230 --> 00:13:41.700 this is God coming to you to save you, that you might die, 145 00:13:41.860 --> 00:13:45.139 that you might live in the world says, I don't want to die. 146 00:13:45.139 --> 00:13:50.539 I like my self, I like my sin, I like these things. 147 00:13:52.740 --> 00:13:58.049 I want to hang onto them. Ultimately, they want to hang on. 148 00:13:58.250 --> 00:14:01.929 The world wants to hang onto its idolatry, as I said at the beginning. 149 00:14:01.409 --> 00:14:07.289 It wants to hang on to its control of God that it can access 150 00:14:07.490 --> 00:14:11.799 truth and goodness and beauty on its own, in its own way and its 151 00:14:11.840 --> 00:14:20.600 own time, and God Says No. The world wants their will to remain 152 00:14:20.919 --> 00:14:31.830 at center, to remain in control. The Cross is about God's will being 153 00:14:31.950 --> 00:14:39.740 done and not ours. All this to say the Cross has its enemies, 154 00:14:41.820 --> 00:14:45.659 Satan chief among them, and the scripture is full of warnings about them. 155 00:14:46.419 --> 00:14:50.620 That those of us who are born through the work of Christ, who came 156 00:14:50.659 --> 00:14:52.970 in the flesh, who died on the cross and rose again from the dead, 157 00:14:56.250 --> 00:15:01.210 that we need to hold fast to that teaching, hold fast to that 158 00:15:01.529 --> 00:15:05.889 Gospel, hold fast even to that way of life, and part of what 159 00:15:05.929 --> 00:15:11.000 that means is coming to the realization that there are people that don't like that, 160 00:15:11.120 --> 00:15:16.240 that there's even parts of ourselves that don't like that, and we need 161 00:15:16.360 --> 00:15:22.509 to be on guard. And so John says, many deceivers in verse seven 162 00:15:22.549 --> 00:15:28.110 have gone out into the world those who do not confess the coming of Jesus 163 00:15:28.149 --> 00:15:37.580 Christ in the flesh. These deceivers want nothing to do with God in the 164 00:15:37.659 --> 00:15:41.500 flesh, and this is referring to his incarnation, his first coming, rather 165 00:15:41.539 --> 00:15:46.220 than a second, although of course people deny that as well. But these 166 00:15:46.419 --> 00:15:50.370 people that John has in mind, they want to they do not want to 167 00:15:50.009 --> 00:15:54.529 affirm, they want that Jesus Christ to aim in the flesh, which is 168 00:15:54.850 --> 00:15:58.289 another way of saying they did not want to affirm that God came in weakness, 169 00:15:58.370 --> 00:16:02.929 that God came on the Cross. They want God by the power of 170 00:16:03.009 --> 00:16:08.039 their reason. They want God in his Glorious Splendor and glory, apart from 171 00:16:08.080 --> 00:16:18.750 the revelation that we have it through grace in Christ. And so they reject 172 00:16:18.870 --> 00:16:21.470 this and they want you to reject it as well. And so they come 173 00:16:21.629 --> 00:16:26.309 to you with their idols or encourage you to make your own, and they 174 00:16:26.350 --> 00:16:33.259 say sure of these. Instead, chase after knowledge, experience, pleasure and 175 00:16:33.419 --> 00:16:41.340 wealth. But you don't need to do that with Christ. In fact, 176 00:16:41.379 --> 00:16:45.340 if you identify yourself with Christ and with Christians, you're probably going to suffer. 177 00:16:45.899 --> 00:16:51.529 Don't scriptures say that? You don't need to worry about that. In 178 00:16:51.649 --> 00:16:56.009 fact, protect yourself against that, guard against that. Instead, they say, 179 00:16:57.090 --> 00:17:03.919 instead, join my party, join my philosophy, join my army, 180 00:17:03.079 --> 00:17:10.240 join my commune, join my movement, and we will achieve greatness. We 181 00:17:10.480 --> 00:17:15.440 will do the good things and the true things and the beautiful things. We 182 00:17:15.519 --> 00:17:18.230 will do it because we have, and then you have all kinds of fill 183 00:17:18.390 --> 00:17:23.750 in the blanks here. We have achieved secret knowledge through this special profit. 184 00:17:25.109 --> 00:17:27.910 We will do it because we have found out that when we tune ourselves into 185 00:17:27.950 --> 00:17:33.660 the nature around us, we can find things in sink and vibrate with the 186 00:17:33.779 --> 00:17:38.140 world and live our lives in goodness and truth and beauty. Or if we, 187 00:17:38.460 --> 00:17:42.299 if we, if we read this special book, or if we follow 188 00:17:42.380 --> 00:17:49.329 this set of laws, if we have these principles, then we can find 189 00:17:49.369 --> 00:17:56.650 our utopia. And then what do they do? What do these deceivers do? 190 00:17:56.849 --> 00:18:03.519 What do we do when we face not utopia but dystopias again and again 191 00:18:03.599 --> 00:18:06.720 and again and again? What do we do when we face our sin and 192 00:18:06.839 --> 00:18:11.319 our misery and ourselves and in the lives of others? Do we give ourselves 193 00:18:11.440 --> 00:18:18.190 by faith, over to God, or do we continue our project of control? 194 00:18:19.390 --> 00:18:22.390 The flesh continues its project of Control, and it does that by trying 195 00:18:22.430 --> 00:18:29.579 to control other people or by isolating ourselves from them. I'm going to keep 196 00:18:29.619 --> 00:18:30.740 you you, keep you under check. I'm going to make you do what 197 00:18:30.819 --> 00:18:33.900 I want you to do. I'm going to make things happen the way I 198 00:18:33.940 --> 00:18:36.220 want them to happen, in the when when I want them to happen, 199 00:18:36.259 --> 00:18:41.690 or ejack button out of here. Enough with all of you. I'm going 200 00:18:41.769 --> 00:18:47.049 to go do my own thing. I'm not going to suffer, I'm not 201 00:18:47.089 --> 00:18:49.569 gonna be patient, I'm not going to be kind. You're ridiculous. I'm 202 00:18:49.569 --> 00:18:53.970 out of here if this is what we do. Either way, it's all 203 00:18:55.009 --> 00:19:00.119 about keeping our own will central and all things, controlling everything in our own 204 00:19:00.160 --> 00:19:02.759 way, in our own time, so that we can get what we want. 205 00:19:04.960 --> 00:19:08.920 And this is what the world is constantly telling us. It's not one 206 00:19:10.069 --> 00:19:14.910 person, he says. Many deceivers, he says, have gone out into 207 00:19:14.910 --> 00:19:18.390 the world. This is already happened and of course it continues to happen. 208 00:19:21.990 --> 00:19:25.619 The son of God has come into the flesh, in the flesh, and 209 00:19:25.700 --> 00:19:30.819 that is an offense to the world. The Cross of Christ asks us to 210 00:19:30.940 --> 00:19:34.660 receive the glorious things we desire are totally apart from anything that we can do 211 00:19:37.180 --> 00:19:41.049 and the glorious ways in which we typically try to achieve them, and instead 212 00:19:41.089 --> 00:19:47.410 asks us only to receive them by the will of another through the cross. 213 00:19:48.289 --> 00:19:53.440 We don't build up the city, we go outside the city and find our 214 00:19:53.480 --> 00:20:00.200 savior there. The opposition of Jesus Coming, opposition to Jesus Christ coming the 215 00:20:00.319 --> 00:20:04.880 flesh, is about all of these things and it shows up in all of 216 00:20:04.960 --> 00:20:11.109 these ways and more. So what do we do then, with this knowledge, 217 00:20:11.430 --> 00:20:15.309 knowing that there is a very real danger, understanding the reason for it, 218 00:20:18.670 --> 00:20:22.059 how do we be careful? Well, John tells us in Verse Eight. 219 00:20:22.180 --> 00:20:26.339 He this is not the only instruction we have in scripture, but it 220 00:20:26.700 --> 00:20:30.980 is one of them and we do right to pay attention to it. John 221 00:20:30.099 --> 00:20:38.930 says in Verse Eight, Watch yourselves, watch yourselves. That's surprising to me. 222 00:20:42.890 --> 00:20:45.930 I would have thought that he would have said be watchful for the deceivers. 223 00:20:48.569 --> 00:20:55.880 And but then I finally exposes my own pride again. Right, there 224 00:20:55.880 --> 00:21:00.039 are many deceivers out there, right, so put up a guard and keep 225 00:21:00.079 --> 00:21:07.230 them out. But instead he says watch yourselves. It would be maybe more 226 00:21:07.349 --> 00:21:11.470 comfortable if we could just say watch out for those bad guys out there. 227 00:21:11.789 --> 00:21:18.859 But John says that the work of guarding and protecting starts in our hearts, 228 00:21:22.420 --> 00:21:29.700 which, of course, most gloriously takes us again back to Christ we again 229 00:21:30.099 --> 00:21:34.049 see that externals aren't going to fix things, that a bunch of rules, 230 00:21:34.089 --> 00:21:38.210 a bunch of policies, it might slow the enemy down, but he's already 231 00:21:38.289 --> 00:21:44.970 on the inside, and so the best protection starts on the inside. And 232 00:21:45.049 --> 00:21:49.000 so there is this call to watchfulness and it's one of God's ways of keeping 233 00:21:49.039 --> 00:21:55.640 US close to him. Watchfulness, of course, is being aware, being 234 00:21:55.720 --> 00:22:00.079 awake, being perceptive to help us see the lie so that we can hold 235 00:22:00.119 --> 00:22:10.150 fast to the truth. Bank tellers are watchful, hopefully right it will wear 236 00:22:10.190 --> 00:22:12.950 blindfolds and just take whatever sort of feels sort of like paper. It comes 237 00:22:12.990 --> 00:22:17.940 to them and they exchange it in and out it goes right. We are 238 00:22:18.420 --> 00:22:21.940 watchful and all kinds of other ways in our lives. I'm more and more 239 00:22:22.099 --> 00:22:30.089 people are putting cameras on their doorbells and their cars, on their chests so 240 00:22:30.210 --> 00:22:34.369 that we can be watchful where, see what's going on. We continue to 241 00:22:34.450 --> 00:22:40.769 develop, you know, artificial intelligence and technologies to help us see these things, 242 00:22:40.970 --> 00:22:47.759 to be aware, to analyze quickly. Are we attending that same kind 243 00:22:47.759 --> 00:22:52.960 of care to the internal us? Are we learning a watchfulness in our hearts? 244 00:22:53.720 --> 00:22:57.519 Are we learning to identify what is true and what is false, what 245 00:22:57.710 --> 00:23:06.230 is legitimate what is pretend? Now that, of course, is difficult and 246 00:23:06.349 --> 00:23:11.390 hard work, but John tells us that the best way to do that, 247 00:23:12.380 --> 00:23:17.579 he goes on to say, is by holding fast to the same truth and 248 00:23:17.700 --> 00:23:22.779 love that we received in the beginning, to abide in the teaching of God, 249 00:23:22.900 --> 00:23:30.130 to live in that house. It's a good place to be. The 250 00:23:30.289 --> 00:23:33.809 hope that we have that he gives to us as that there's a reward ahead, 251 00:23:34.009 --> 00:23:38.130 that the suffering and the guarding and the watchfulness and the carefulness and all 252 00:23:38.170 --> 00:23:44.039 these things it's not for nothing. The world will say, what's the purpose? 253 00:23:45.559 --> 00:23:52.559 But the scriptures say there's a full reward and it is the complete giving 254 00:23:52.319 --> 00:24:00.750 of all the glorious things that we could ever want. But imperfection, perfect 255 00:24:00.869 --> 00:24:10.700 fellowship, perfect peace, perfect holiness, perfect goodness and beauty love in every 256 00:24:10.740 --> 00:24:15.700 way. These are the things that come to us through the cross. The 257 00:24:15.819 --> 00:24:23.059 Cross looks to the world like a vanity, but it's not, and we 258 00:24:23.180 --> 00:24:30.130 know that from the resurrection of Jesus a resurrection that is already begun. So 259 00:24:30.329 --> 00:24:33.170 how do we protect our how it hearts? How do we be watchful over 260 00:24:33.250 --> 00:24:37.009 our hearts? How do we UN CLING TO CHRIST? It's the same way, 261 00:24:37.049 --> 00:24:44.319 in which we begin by trusting in him, by not trusting ourselves, 262 00:24:45.640 --> 00:24:48.039 by not trusting in our power, not trusting in our strength, not trusting 263 00:24:48.079 --> 00:24:55.430 in our watchfulness, but trusting in him. That's what watchfulness by faith looks 264 00:24:55.509 --> 00:25:00.309 like. That's what guarding according to faith looks like. And when we guard 265 00:25:00.390 --> 00:25:03.710 and when we watch and we are careful in these ways, God promises us 266 00:25:04.470 --> 00:25:11.259 his protection. He promises to spread his wings over US and keep us safe 267 00:25:11.940 --> 00:25:17.940 and keep us warm, to keep us in his house, to protect us 268 00:25:17.980 --> 00:25:22.809 against those who are anti Christ, those who would deceive us and trick us. 269 00:25:25.970 --> 00:25:30.049 So let us trust him, let us be patient to him, let 270 00:25:30.089 --> 00:25:36.799 us cling to the cross in every way, confessing that Jesus Christ has come 271 00:25:36.839 --> 00:25:41.000 in the flesh. Let's pray our heavenly