Exercising God’s Love, Pt. 2

Ronald Weinland

April 22, 2023

So, today we are continuing in that new sermon series entitled Exercising or Living if you will, but it has to do with something we have to do. So, it’s one thing to live something but to exercise something I think puts more of a point on it that there is something we have to do, so Exercising God’s Love, Part 2.

We’re going to pick it up right here in 1 John 2. There is so much that John had to say about this subject, and I’m always moved and inspired when I read through things that John wrote, especially on this subject here in John 13, beginning in 13, but especially in 14 and on, but it begins in John 13, the very things we cover on Passover night.

Because a lot was given to him right there at the very beginning, but a lot more was given to him later on and so the books of 1, 2, and 3 John written much later, and then the book of Revelation when he was in his nineties. And so when you contrast some of this with what he finally says when you get to 1 John and he begins writing again like this on some of the same subject matter covered in John 13, 14, and through there, it really shows, reveals that God gave so much more to him, and things that candidly right now that we’re going through are being given in the sense that God is showing us there’s a lot more here than what we grasp in the sense of the subject matter of all of 1 John.

It’s very strong in what he has to say. It’s very straightforward and can’t be absorbed, necessarily all at once. But by reviewing and going over these things hopefully and prayerfully we’re going to see more and more of where we are in time, why these things are being given now more than ever before. Because of where we are. It’s a matter of understanding the time we live in, what’s going on in the world, what’s going to take place before long, and we eagerly await the return of Christ, and a new age begins.

And these kinds of things need to be lived more, need to be lived more by the Church right now because God is cleansing the Church, He’s purifying the Church, preparing it for Christ’s coming. Unlike what’s taken place over the past two thousand years. Because over this period of time, the majority of people who are going to be a part of the 144,000 have been worked with, have been called, and worked with. The majority of people called refused that calling, refused God, turned against God, turned against Christ, went back into the world. Some of the things that John is discussing here.

And so, it goes on until Christ returns. And kind of mind-boggling that can even happen, but that was God’s primary focus in the first place, the first six thousand years preparing the 144,000. Most things that are written in scripture are about that preparation. And then especially now we see what’s taken place in the last two thousand years because of the Church and the size of the Church and God able to work with and did choose to work that way with more people then, preparing them for that phase of the temple, if you will, the first resurrection.

And so, at the end here then it’s a little different than it has been in the past two thousand years because before that the Church didn’t have to be cleansed in the same way. It was cleansed from time to time. We’ve gone through several cleansings. Several things took place during Philadelphia. Those who have been in the Church for some time in Worldwide understand that. When they lived during the period of Philadelphia there were a lot of things that took place that did do a lot of cleansing.

So, at certain times God did work to cleanse the Church but not in the massive way that’s taking place right now. This is a final kind of refining and strengthening of the Church preparing for what’s coming. Though we be very small God is working with us to help us be a clean Body. And those who aren’t able to be a part of that, so many especially since 2010 and on — actually started in 2008 but some of those stuck around until 2012 and 2013. But as John would describe it here, lying spirits, lying to God.

And those are difficult because it’s a matter of spending time with people, sharing with people, having fellowship with people. I think of that song “Walking to God’s house side by side and counsel blending sweet” and then when that turns against you it’s a hard thing to watch. It’s a hard thing to experience when people turn against you and turn away from what’s true.

So, let’s pick it up here again in 1 John 2 from some of what we’ve been covering here, verse 4. Again, we’re going back through the context of some of this because you have to understand where he’s coming from and where he’s going, what’s being covered here. So, it’s a form, a way of actually measuring ourselves, where we are, and measuring the Church, if you will, in that respect too.

1 John 2:4—Whoever says, I know Him, and does not keep His commandments, is a liar. And so I, candidly, have experienced that so much in God’s Church through Philadelphia, through Laodicea, and seeing things that people can go through motions and so forth, go back and forth from Sabbath services, go back and forth from the Feast of Tabernacles, and not be fully committed and convicted, and at some point, at different times some choose to go a different course, do different things, things in the world pull at them and leave this way.

But it doesn’t happen overnight. And it used to be that a lot of people in the Church were so shocked when somebody left the Church or was put out of the Church because they didn’t know certain things about them. They walked to God’s house side by side, counsel blended sweet, ate together in homes, and so forth, and thought we were all together until something like that exposes they’re not a part of us.

But something that people haven’t understood well is that didn’t happen overnight. It wasn’t a last-minute momentary thing that took place in their life. It’s been going on for a long time because a gradual process of being cut off from God’s spirit. God gives us a lot of time, He has great patience, He works with us, and strives to give us that which we need to respond to Him. Very patient. Corrects us, chastens us. And if we don’t respond and want this way of life, well, those are the choices.

…is a liar and the truth is not in them. That’s what it comes down to. After a while, they can’t even speak about the truth in the same way. They can’t converse. They can be just friends just visiting, but if it were a matter of conversing about certain things of the truth or agreeing on the same things that doesn’t come out.

But whoever keeps His word… So again, this word having to do with “guarding; protecting; watching over” because that’s what you do with treasure. I was thinking about that this morning thinking all that we’ve been given, we have such treasure, we really do in what God’s given to us of the truth and His way of life. And it’s so awesome! But if you look at it in that regard then you’re going to treat it differently in the sense of watching over it, protecting it, guarding it. That’s what you do with treasure.

And so it has to do with our minds and how we think about it, how we think about what God’s given to us. And it produces thankfulness and gratefulness on our part as well then.

But whoso keeps His word, truly in them is the agape of God perfected. There are so many ways of pronouncing this sometimes I… Sometimes people get bent out of shape because they hear a certain pronunciation, like, “That’s not how you say it!” Well, la-de-dah, what does it matter as long as you know it’s God’s love, agape?

…in them is the love of God perfected. So, that’s what we want, which is His mind, the way He sees us His desire toward us, His desire toward Elohim is His creation and the purpose for it. And then if we have that same kind of, or growing in that same kind of mind, it’s being perfected up here, that transition.

By this, we know that we are in Him. So, if there is a certain way we think, especially about others within the Body, then that helps us to grasp where we are, that we are in God. Because the point being is you can’t have this kind of love without God. It’s impossible. You can’t work it up. It’s not something you can think about, think, “I’m going to have agape today. I’m going to go out here and treat people really well.”

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t strive to do that but knowing you can’t do it the right way without asking for help, asking for God’s spirit, that God has to be in us to live this. Because we still have carnal human nature and that’s always going to be a battle.

By this, we know that we are in Him. Whoever says that they abide in Him ought themself to walk even as he walked. So again now, referring back to Christ because that’s the context of so much of what John is talking about. It refers back to Christ and the love he had. And that’s repeated over and over and over again.

So, if we abide in God and in Christ then there is a certain way we’re going to be living. And if we’re not living that (it goes back up to the previous verses), we’re lying, and the truth isn’t in us. We might know of the truth, we might know that we’re not supposed to eat pork, we might know that a christmas tree is wrong and easter is wrong, we might know that there is a six-thousand-year plan, we might have knowledge of certain things. And even that can be lost, is lost by so many.

So, this is a key verse that we’re to recognize here because it’s about how Christ walked. This is everything. This is what this is fully about in every respect. Where when we refer back to John 13:34 where Christ mentioned A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another. And he didn’t stop there. Which is a word that means “In this manner; this is how you’re to love.” That’s all that word “love” means. You don’t know what it is unless you know the context. And then he said, as, so this is how, I have loved you, that you also love one another. Powerful! Because this is what helps us to grasp and comprehend it’s a sacrificing love. How do we think towards others? Are we willing to sacrifice this, our will, our way?

Because that’s what it comes down to. Are we willing to fight against that in order to strive to grow more at one with God, to agree with God of how to think toward people let alone how to treat them? If we don’t think right toward individuals we’re not going to treat them truthfully either.

Going back to 1 John 2:7—Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which you had/have from the beginning. “Which you have had,” really is a better way of saying, “from the beginning.” Well, what does that mean? Well, he’s telling the Church here you’ve had this from the beginning of your calling.

We’ve been told about John 13:34 for a long time. We go through this every Passover. Every Passover we read these verses, this verse anyway, John 13:34, and some in 14 and 15 and on.  And so, he says it’s nothing new, in that respect, because you’ve heard this. This is how we’re to think.

“I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which you had from the beginning.” And that’s what it’s talking about, the beginning. It was the beginning, if you will, when it began to be understood and John wrote these things. It’s about the Church. It was about the formation of the Church, and on and on we go.

So again, “A new commandment I write unto you.” So, “A new commandment I write unto you?” So he uses some language here that’s a little different in that respect in how it’s understood.

Again, A new commandment I write unto you, which is true in him and in you… So, we’ve heard it from the beginning. It’s not new in that respect, and yet he’s saying “This is being given now. This is new. If you don’t understand it, you need to understand it,” in essence he’s saying,

…which is true in him and in you. What does that mean, “in him and in you?” It has to be in us then. It’s about God’s spirit and how we’re able to grow and how we’re able to have the mind in agreement with God of His truth. And so, it’s about being in God and God in us. That’s what John 13, 14, and 15 are all about, and he’s just building upon it even more so now – rather, God is through him.

“Which thing is true in him and in you.” Because if it isn’t in him, if we’re not in him and recognize where it comes from and it’s not in us, then it’s not true. It’s either true or false. God is in us, we’re in God or that’s not happening.

…because the darkness, which, again, is a matter of being in bondage, it’s understanding what we’re being called out of. I think of how we’ve gone through some of these things during the Days of Unleavened Bread and all that means. Similar expressions when it says, because the darkness is past, and the true light now shines.

So, the only way that can happen, is the light, is if God is in us and we’re able to see. Beautiful analogies here. Light gets rid of darkness. It’s not there.

So, we’re going to jump ahead a little bit here in some of the things being talked about because this is how in one respect this is a… “The new commandment is true,” is maybe a better way of saying it. The way the new commandment that was given to us in the beginning, the way it’s true, is here because, again, God’s in us and we’re in God. That’s what makes it true.

We’re going to go ahead and then come back here later, but let’s jump ahead to 2 John and add some information here that John gave later on. Again, all in the same context. And it might sound like he’s repeating himself, and in some things, things are being repeated but adding to it. Like the two trees. People got tired of hearing that. It’s like, okay. But there was always something new to learn, something to grow in and understand spiritually.

So, in 2 John 1:1 it says, The elder, unto the elect lady, select, God’s calling, God’s called, the Church; it’s the lady, it’s the woman being referred to, and her children, those that are brought in that are new and younger and growing, whom I love, so again that word “agapaó,” “in this manner. So, he’s showing the manner is in the truth.

Because you can’t love if it’s not in the truth. If we don’t dwell in the truth, if we’re not in the truth and the truth is not in us we can’t love properly because we’re not in agreement with God and what else? If we’re not in agreement we’re cutting off the spirit somewhere, we’re cutting off God’s spirit through sin. We’re not in agreement.

I think of 2008, 2009, and 2010 and in through there and choices. I think of 2008 as soon as Pentecost was discussed, and no longer was it a matter of Christ returning on Trumpets and time was shifted ahead. We understood something that God was revealing, when Christ was going to return, and how later on then as well we understood more deeply how the wave loaves are directly tied into the Wave Sheaf. It has so much meaning. It’s awesome.

But I think of some who made choices back then they disagreed with some of those things. Right from the start they didn’t like it, they were in bad attitudes. And even if later on sometimes… Well, I’m not going to get into that. Anyway. And in time if those aren’t repented of, which they weren’t, the bad attitudes, the things that were said amongst individuals and people in God’s…

Because God does not hold that lightly when someone begins to speak divisively in His Church. I think of Philadelphia. I think of all the people who spoke divisively. None of them are around. They weren’t awakened. Others were totally gone, went with the first batch, went back to protestantism. Incredible things we’ve experienced in God’s Church.

So John was saying, “I love them in the truth.” Because that’s where God’s spirit works. That tells us how to love each other in a right way – because we’re in agreement. We have to be in agreement with God’s ways, with God’s truth to properly love one another even. Because if we don’t there is something missing there and resisting and working against that and then the mind can’t think right toward individuals. Other things will creep in because they’re relying on themselves, not on God.

…and not only I but also all those who have known the truth. Because the reality is this is where we have our fellowship, in the truth, if we’re of the same mind. And if we’re not of the same mind there is not a right fellowship. Different names comeing into mind here, faces I see of people who weren’t in agreement, who resisted. And it’s like, how can you have a relationship if there is division there, if the house is divided, in that regard? You can’t. What can you share properly? We share the truth. We have fellowship in the truth. That’s what binds us together. Because we believe the same things through God’s spirit.

So, it’s a powerful verse, what he said here. I love them in the truth, not only I but also all those who have known the truth, for the truth’s sake which dwells in us and shall be with us forever. It’s a beautiful thing to think that God’s way, God’s mind (that’s what it’s talking about), it’s going to be with us forever.

Grace be with you. The desire we should have even toward one another as he had toward the Church, that we be able to receive the grace of God, which is a matter of forgiveness of sins, which is a matter of God being patient with us, which is a matter of receiving of God’s love and on and on it goes, of the blessing from God in our life and favor from God.

Grace be with you, mercy, and peace from God the Father. That’s the source of it all. …and from the Lord Joshua the Christ, the Son of the Father, saying it again, in truth and love. Now it’s “agape.” This is that love that comes from God and it’s with the truth. To love the truth. I think it’s a matter of God’s spirit, God’s love in us that we love the truth, and thereby we love God with His love. What an awesome thing to understand, that we’re capable of that.

I rejoiced greatly that I have found of your children walking in the truth… That’s a beautiful thing. It’s an ugly thing when some aren’t. It’s an ugly thing when that is manifested and revealed that someone isn’t. It hurts. Because that’s not what we want toward one another if we love one another as we should.

So now I implore you, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto you… he just says it over and over and over again, just constantly reminding everyone what this is all about, what it goes back to, what we need to see. …but that which we had from the beginning, John 13:34 when Christ revealed it to us on Passover night. He truly revealed the most important, most powerful things ever on that night. Of all his ministry, everything he gave on that night was the most revealing of anything ever revealed in six thousand years to this point in time, if you will, even. Incredible to understand that.

So, I implore you, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto you, but that which we had from the beginning – that we love one another. That we love in this manner. And it’s all in context then. In what manner? That which we heard from the beginning, Christ loved us to the point of sacrificing his life, and he told us that’s how we’re supposed to love one another.

We have to sacrifice our own will. That’s the hardest thing for a human being to do. That’s the hardest thing for someone in God’s Church to do and you can’t do it by yourself. It requires help. We have to pray about it, and we have to fight it day by day by day by day. We all do! If we’re going to live this right we have to fight it continually. If we grasp that… that’s why we’re going to cry out and ask for God’s spirit, so that we can think this way toward one another, so that we can quickly catch ourselves as quick as we can, in that respect, and repent before God when we do it wrong, when we think wrong, when we say something wrong toward someone else or act wrong toward someone else, and see that rotten, selfish nature we have.

We really have rotten nature as human beings. Selfishness is so ugly, and we have to be so convicted of that. And the more convicted we are and hate it, the more we hate it the more we’re going to want what is right, the more you’re going to fight for what’s right, the more you’re going to be willing to repent when you’re wrong.

Verse 6—Even this is love, God’s love, agape, that we walk after His commandments. This is the commandment that as you have heard from the beginning you should walk in it. So, if we’re insisting on our own way, we’re not getting along… Just not getting along and having disputes with one another reveals a lot. And this is what this is about, helping us to come to see these are the things that have to be brought into check because something is wrong if we’re not getting along.

It doesn’t matter what it is within the body, husband and wife, children and parents (if the children are old enough to comprehend those things, in other words, matured. I’m talking about as people get older in the Church), and with one another in the Body. It starts within the Church, within the fellowship. And this is where we should desire and want to work the most. And yet sometimes we get to know each other so well and it’s easier to hold on to certain things if we’re not careful. It’s easy to begin to judge one another and think that individuals…

We can all do things better. We can all do things better. None of us have perfection fully grasped. None of us are perfect. And sometimes if we’re not careful as human beings we…sometimes we see imperfections or sometimes we think we see imperfections even (that can be bad), we think we see imperfections because so often it’s not being done “the way I would do it.” Well, is there only one way to do whatever they’re doing?

This is a big thing I’ve tried to teach the ministry for a long, long time in different ways, do strive to, is about judgment and the Church, because these things come out in sermons as well, that we have to be careful about the way we see certain things. Now, sometimes even for certain functions and jobs people are given extra ability because it’s from God, to see certain matters, to deal with certain matters, but people have to be very careful of that to make sure, “Is this in agreement with God” or is it “The way I see it, the way I think it should be done?”

And the point being is what is the measuring portion of this? Where is the sin? If there is no sin butt out, back off, give time. Minor or big. Is it something that could hurt someone else? We have to learn how to judge things in our life. We have to learn how to judge. All of us to judge righteous judgment. And that comes into play in our thinking toward others. That’s where judgment comes in and it must agree with, strive to agree with what God says, how God says to do certain things.

And so, that’s quite a challenge. It requires that we check our thoughts and our thinking, try to bring them into check, and make certain we’re thinking right. Because if we don’t, you know what? There is sin there. If we’re not thinking right and we’re not in agreement with God so often in the judgment, if it comes out of us… I’m afraid of that, and we should be.

Because if we’re treating God’s people, in the sense, someone in the family, thinking wrongly toward them, saying something wrongly toward them and it’s not in agreement with God there is sin there that has to be repented of. We’re thinking our way and our way isn’t God’s way of measuring things. He doesn’t have us measure that way. It’s not about the way “I” see it, the way “I” think it should be done. There are so many ways of doing things in life. Can someone do something in a better way? All of us can. But give time. We all have to go through experiences and learn things.

I didn’t get here overnight. It’s a long time ago. And I’ve got a long way to go as far as until the change comes, whenever that is going to be.

So, we have to see things in that perspective and learn to truly care for one another to the degree we’re willing to bring this into check, “my” feelings of how “I” think it should be. Because that’s where most arguments come in. That’s where most disagreements come in. We’re not getting our way, the way we think it should be.

This is the age-old story in families, in the Church, in marriages within the Church when things haven’t gone well. Why aren’t they going well? One or both are not getting their own, their way. There is disagreement and it can’t be fixed oftentimes because of that willingness, and stubbornness to not change because “I’m right! This is the way it should be.” Dangerous stuff.

These are the things God wants us to see in all of our relationships and how we think. We have to measure this first and foremost. We have to change this first and foremost. We are not here to change others in the sense of the Church and within the Body. We’re here to change self, to grow, receive what we can in order to change this. We’re to support and help others within the Body to whatever degree we can with encouragement, whatever it might be, in that respect, care, love, outgoing concern, genuine concern and care. Not to get something back. Not to get something out of anyone but just to be there to give.

That’s what fellowship is about, and it’s about drawing closer together and developing those bonds of unity and oneness and sharing that are beautiful. That’s what makes us one even more so when it comes to fellowship.

So, this is the way of God, the mind of God, and it takes a lot to fight against this. So, I think of things that happen, if we can just look at any situation that you’ve known of in times past that may have happened to you or someone else and individuals were arguing or upset with each other about something, things weren’t going well, whether it be in a marriage, whether it be between two people in God’s Church.

And the larger God’s Church was in certain areas the more often these kinds of things happen. Three hundred people, four hundred people, people knew each other, they were mixing a lot together, had different functions together and sometimes they began to rub, different ones for whatever reason. It might be a jealousy, it might be an envy, it might be that someone did a certain thing, said something in a way that someone just took wrong.

Why are we so ultra-sensitive about something sometimes? We read things into… The human mind. It’s something else.

So again, all these things fit together about how we think toward each other; has to be in the truth, has to be with God’s spirit, and this is the story of what is going through here.

2 John 1:6—Even this is the love, speaking of the love of God now, agape, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, that as we have heard from the beginning you should walk in it. How much clearer can it be? You better be sacrificing. It better be sacrificing your own will. Because if you insist on your own way there is no sacrifice in that. What are you sacrificing if you’re not willing to sacrifice your own way in the way you see something? If we’re not willing to do that?

For many deceivers have entered into the world who do not confess that Joshua the Christ is coming in the flesh. This is an amazing thing here. Even within God’s Church, this has been poorly understood, even within the ministry so often. What does that mean, this thing about “confessing that Joshua the Christ is come in the flesh, or is coming in the flesh?” We understand it as “coming in the flesh.” So, it’s not by something you say, you confess that, yeah, of course, he came in the flesh. Protestant world believes he came in the flesh and died and whatever. That doesn’t prove diddly-squat. That’s not what this is about.

It's for those who have God’s spirit who have been begotten, who by their life, by what you’re living acknowledge whether it be in speech, in actions – it can be in speech. The word “confess” is not the best word to be used here in the translation but that something that’s reflected by how we live. Witnessed, in the sense of how we live our lives, it’s going to reflect whether God’s in us, Christ is in us and we’re in God or not.

So, that’s what so much of this is about, is whether or not Christ is coming in the flesh. He’s living in us. And that’s the bottom line. Is he living in us or not? Because that’s the only place truth can exist.

That’s why it goes on to say here, For many deceivers entered in the world who do not confess that Joshua the Christ is coming… What is that? They’re not living right. They’re not living right toward one another within the Church so what does that reflect? Christ isn’t in them. He’s not coming in the flesh. So, no, they don’t confess that Joshua the Christ is coming in the flesh by how they’re living their life.

So, people who don’t get along, who don’t repent of sin, people who don’t send in tithes, people who don’t give Holy Day offerings, which we’ve had that up until recent time. And you think, after all I’ve said for the last how many years, for a long time, because it’s been a huge problem. Because that’s a hideous lying spirit, to rob from God. What could be more hideous than to blatantly lie to God? God knows us. God sees us. He knows everything we’re doing.

I think of one individual that had difficulty with it for a time. Got a job that was doing well and doing well enough that no longer needed to tithe nor fellowship, no longer needed to make any kind of sacrifice whatsoever. It’s like, what is wrong with you? Well, it just reflects what they were before. They didn’t do it when they should have on smaller portions in their life, didn’t live it.

How do we expect God to fight our battles for us if we’re not doing the simplest of things? Those are simple things! Those are things that should be addressed before one’s baptized. Tithing, and giving Holy Day offerings is never going to be a problem, it’s a way of life. And so are the rest of God’s laws and God’s way.

The harder things to see so often has to do with fellowship and relationships toward one another, how we think toward one another, how we speak to one another. So, if we can’t get past the tithing part and the offering part, well, where is the rest? Well, it’s down the toilet. So, what can you say?

He has a lot more to say here before it’s over with. It gets a lot stronger. He’s already said they are liars. And that’s what they are. They’re lying to God. How can anyone think they can lie to God? That really kind of boggles my mind. How could anyone ever be baptized and think they’re going to lie to God? He knows what you’re doing… He knows what you’re thinking all the time. And if we don’t believe that we’re in the wrong place.

Knows our thoughts. Now, that should be sobering and maybe a little scary. And if we know that and understand that and believe that with all of our being, we’re going to be more willing to fight when those wrong thoughts… Because everyone has wrong thoughts that come into their mind as human beings. There is none of us that don’t.

Sometimes they come from broadcastings, and because broadcastings are out there something is going to come in here. And then it’s up to us what do we do with it? So, God knows what comes into the mind, the thoughts. The wrong thoughts, it’s a matter of choice. Do we act upon them? Do we continue to think about it, or do we fight against it, ignore it, get rid of it? Well, those are all choices.

So, to me that’s a very sobering thing to think, to realize that… When I talk about this I think about Adam and Eve and thinking they’re going to hide from God and out there in the garden. They just didn’t quite get it, did they? Here they are out in the garden, they’re trying to hide in the shadows and so forth and it’s like, you’re not hiding from anything. He made you. But they didn’t understand those things or to that degree, I guess, or didn’t care to, didn’t choose to.

But anyway, you think of when God gives us His spirit what we’re capable of seeing and understanding, it’s truly awesome.

So John is getting into some very specific things that are way beyond lying to God when people don’t give Holy Day offerings or don’t tithe properly. This is far beyond that spiritually. And so some of those in times past wouldn’t be able to grasp any of this whatsoever. They might hear certain things, but they wouldn’t really grasp it in the sense of entering into the battle and desiring to exercise God’s love and understand what that means. Because to grasp it and to strive to live it is something from God in the truth, in God’s spirit, by God’s spirit through Christ, which always means repentance.

For many deceivers entered in the world who do not confess that Joshua the Christ is coming in the flesh. This isn’t about the world; this is about God’s own Church. And this is what’s mind-boggling, it really is, when you think about it.

“Many deceivers have entered into the world.” What does that mean? It means they’ve left the Church. It means they’ve entered into the world. They’ve chosen to fellowship in the world, they’ve chosen to do things that aren’t right with God, and they’ve chosen the world, in other words, to live that way. Because there’s the way of the world, of mankind, of selfishness and then there is God’s way.

And this is what John is talking about. So, this is what he means when he says, “Many deceivers have entered in the world,” because that’s what happens to deceivers and liars. They’re in the world. They’re not in the Church. And so often they’re not even in the courtyard. They’ve taken a long trip. They’ve gotten a long, long way away from the courtyard. They’re way out there somewhere. And every once in a while, some of that happens where someone is so far out there you think, how on earth could you have such thinking?

So, he didn’t say a few. And that’s what’s sad about the Church. Here it is, John is writing – I don’t know exactly when he wrote 2 John. Was it before he went to prison, afterward, in his eighties? It doesn’t say. There is no real knowing of this. But he was much older, and this was much later than when he wrote the book of John the first time around and 1 John, and now he’s in 2 John and before Revelation is written.

And he’s seen a lot of things happen with that first Church of Ephesus. He’s seen a lot of people come and go by this time. Paul was already dealing with a lot of situations where people had come and gone, and he even mentioned certain ministers that had gone and taken people. People had followed and gone with them. So, Paul was already addressing some of those things even while he was in prison.

And so, here we go, here we come down to John, the last one remaining, and he’s seen a lot more than any of them saw. And he’s saying many, many have entered into the world. Many who were in God’s Church are gone, they’re separated spiritually.

…have entered into the world who do not confess Joshua the Christ is coming… Their lives don’t reflect God. They don’t reflect Christ living in them because they’ve gone out in the world. They’re sinning.

This is a deceiver and an antiChrist. He gets really strong. He just calls a spade a spade. They’re just against Christ. You think, how can someone in God’s Church ever get to the point where they are against Christ and work against Christ? And he’s talking about his love, that he loved us, all of us, all who had the opportunity of becoming a part of God’s Family to the degree he was willing to take the suffering that he did. Never sinned in his life and yet beaten beyond recognition on that night. That next day then hung up, as it were, nails on his hands there and his ankles, ankle area, feet, ever how they drove the nails through, hanging up there on a pole.

Knew it. He knew what he was going to go through. And only at one point, and that was said for our benefit, “If there is any other way…” He didn’t want to have to go through it. Who would want to go through that? “But not my will, Yours be done.” And that’s always the answer. Doesn’t mean it’s a picnic at times. There’s some hard things we go through in life. Nobody has gone through anything like he did. Because we can’t comprehend that mind. He knew. We don’t have that kind of mind. He did growing up with it. He was the Word made flesh. He knew so much so that it was like already feeling it. It was such a belief in his mind that when he prayed droplets mixed with blood came out on his skin. None of us have had that kind of agony in our minds.

I can’t comprehend that kind of agony. Maybe a little smidgeon of it, but not that kind of agony, of what it means to do what is right in the midst of what you’re going through like that, like what he experienced. And he did it for everyone so we could have the opportunity of being forgiven of sins. He knew what was riding on it. Elohim. Because without him doing it right, without him going through that suffering there would be no ability to repent of sin and be forgiven of it. He knew this and he wanted it. He wanted it.

He told them on that night, “I have,” in essence, “so wanted to keep this Passover with you,” because he gave them a new Passover. He told them what it was going to be like. He gave them purpose and meaning of the things he was getting… They didn’t grasp it yet, but they were going to. And he gave all this stuff on Passover night that was so awesome in knowledge and understanding.

And so to say that someone could be baptized, go down under the water, be excited to know the truth, that God gave them the ability… I will never forget when my mind was opened to the truth. It’s something that can’t be taken away. And if you already knew it and then it became stronger as you grew up in the Church that’s even, in one respect, more powerful. But to have a stark change like that where all of a sudden you hear about the Sabbath and you know it’s true, you don’t have to open a Bible. When God puts it into your mind it’s just there. And it’s such an incredible thing.

And then truth upon truth and then we have an excitement referred to in scripture sometimes, that first love. Where do we ever lose it? It should be a love that continues on and grows, becomes stronger in time. But the history of God’s Church is many deceivers gone into the world who didn’t confess, in other words their life didn’t confess that, didn’t reveal that, didn’t reflect that, that this is true, that Christ is in them, living in them. Because they sinned and didn’t bother repenting.

I mean, we’re reading things here that just boggle my mind. They do and they don’t. Because of experience, we’ve experienced it, we see it and it’s ugly and it’s hurtful, it’s painful. But to think that it happens and continues to happen and will happen, if you will, almost right up to the time Christ returns is hard to comprehend.

That one can be put under water, come up out of the water, have an awesome fellowship, a family that they have never known to that degree. Because you… Having a spiritual Family is something far beyond any physical family capability. There is an ability to love and think toward each other in ways that far exceed that that’s physical.

The best in that respect that a human family can have is a type of philia, and maybe a closer bond because… And then that’s a selfish thing as Herbert Armstrong revealed because it’s “my family” and we don’t have this toward other families. And that’s the best human beings can experience without God’s help. Because with God’s spirit we begin to experience something beyond that.

And so, to read something like this, This is a deceiver and an antiChrist, who work against Christ it’d be like being right there and spitting on Christ. There are people, they’re spitting on him or flogging him. And to be a participant in that is mind-boggling. But people just can’t see themselves for this is what they’re doing when they sin and choose the world rather than God.

Look to yourselves. That’s the answer, right here, Look to ones self, look inside. Always first and foremost that’s where the sacrifice has to come from so that we do not lose those things which we have worked for, but that we receive a full reward. God wants us to be in His Family, the full reward, inherit all things along with Christ.

I don’t understand that but it’s exciting to think about it. It’s going to be a lot more exciting when it happens.

Verse 9—Whoever transgresses (sins) and does not abide (doesn’t dwell) in the doctrine of Christ, whatever Christ commanded, whatever Christ taught, whatever Christ gave. And one of the greatest of those things then that John is talking about, John 13:34. Whoever does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. Doesn’t have God’s spirit.

Whoever abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. So, if we’re able to dwell in the truth and live in the truth and the truth in us, the spirit in us and we in the Father, the Father in us and the Son.

If there come any unto you and do not bring this doctrine… So whatever we’ve been given that Christ has given to the ministry, to the Church, to all of us to see, to know, to understand, that God has given to us through His Son. So, that’s what it’s talking about here. If there come any unto you and do not bring this doctrine, don’t bring what you’re taught, what we’re given, it says, don’t receive them into your house.

So it can come to a point where (we understand this), it gets to the point where sometimes we can’t have fellowship with others. And yet I’ve been told, even by some who had been ordained, “No one,” basically, and especially not me, “is going to tell me who I can and cannot fellowship with in the Church.”

So, I think back about that period of time. Was that 2012-13 when some of that happened? …of some that had been disfellowshipped. And so because they were friends with some who had been disfellowshipped (within the ministry; both parties were in the ministry), and then the other party that was in the ministry it was like, “Nobody is going to tell…” And that’s something I’ve heard going all the way back in the Church.

It's like, “No one can tell me who I can fellowship with and who I can’t. We’re close friends. We’re…” whatever it is, “and they’re still my friend. I’m still going to…” Well, that’s a choice, and as soon as that choice is made you know what happens? Christ isn’t in them anymore. They’re antiChrist. They’re not doing what God, what Christ tells them they should do, and that’s to separate themselves.

“If there come any unto you and do not bring this doctrine...” That’s why when we hear something and it isn’t the truth that someone is saying to us and it’s something else there should be some giant sirens going off in our head. Red lights going off and some action needs to be taken, “We don’t teach this in God’s Church.”

You know, whenever some goofy thing comes along about some… even some of these crazy conspiracy things that are out there sometimes. Why anybody would get into some of that stuff blows the mind. But sometimes that happens. It’s probably still happening, sad to say. One degree or another somewhere somebody listens to somebody else out there that’s got some screwed-up idea about something and they want to talk to others in the Church about it.

Anyway, every once in a when there are jet streams going across the sky, you see them, sometimes my wife and I go out on a walk and we’ll look up there and say, “Man, there are a lot of them today. We probably ought to go back inside.” Because someone that we knew very, very well began to believe in these conspiracy theories about the governments spraying us with something in those streams. And it’s like, well, what is their objective? Are we supposed to be zombies? What do they want out of us, more taxes? I don’t know.

Weird stuff that people get into sometimes. How somebody could ever be baptized and believe at some point later on the earth is flat? We’ve gone… We’ve heard all kinds of stuff. And why people would… So, when someone comes up and they say something that is different from what we teach in the Church or what we give in the Church, “No conspiracy theories” and “Don’t believe all that gobbledygook that’s out there,” “Is that what we’ve heard on Sabbath?” We should say something! Take a stand for what is true, what is right. “That’s not taught in God’s Church. That’s just weird.”

Have the guts to say it. Because if we don’t have the guts to say it the individual by your silence thinks you agree. That’s what they do. And then they’ll go on to tell others. So, it’s better it be stopped. And something like that then probably ought to go to the ministry as well. “Because I heard this and I said something, but you just have to be, you need to be aware of it.” And we do need to be aware of it!

Sometimes people think, “Well, that’s telling on someone.” “Not going to rat on people,” you know, that thing that’s out there. And where it’s at mostly, it really says a lot. It’s with the crooks. “Don’t rat!” It’s in the prison system, “Don’t rat on somebody! Are you a rat?” So, that’s how they’ve made people who stand up for God’s way of life, it’s like, “Hmm. Should I say anything to someone else? Am I…?” Yeah, it’s a responsibility if you love someone, if you love the rest of the Body, you don’t want this to happen to the rest of the Church.

Look to yourselves so that we do not lose those things which we have worked for, but that we receive a full reward. So, there’s work involved. There is always work involved. And the greatest work of all is on this, self. That’s your greatest work, it truly is.

Verse 9—Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. Whoever abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. Because it takes God’s spirit to live what is right.

Again, If any come unto you and do not bring this doctrine, do not receive them in your house, neither say to them... It’s not the word “God speed.” We don’t use “God speed.” It’s not a proper translation in the first place. It’s like a greeting to someone.

If someone in the Church has gone off on a tangent and they’re teaching something different, 14/15 Passover, whatever it might be people come up with in times or some goofy conspiracy thing and you say no to that, it’s not right, and people insist on doing it God brings us to the point where He says then don’t receive them into your house, don’t bring them in close to you.

Fellowship, that’s what that’s about. It’s about fellowship. Don’t bring them into your fellowship if they’re pushing something. As a whole, those things will be taken care of one way or another, but we shouldn’t continue with that kind of relationship either.

…neither say to them… You know, “Happy day,” “Greetings,” “Wish you well,” you know, whatever kind of goofy thing it is, “Wish you well,” some kind of things that people sometimes say when they greet each other, whatever that might be. The actual word, it’s like a greeting, “Be happy,” “Rejoice.” Rejoice is part of the… not the word “God speed.” Neither one of those words are there. But it’s like saying, “Hope you have a good day,” type of thing, wishing someone that. Nothing wrong with that.

Some greetings we don’t do because they sound very protestant, you know, if we’re not careful. “Happy Sabbath.” That can be misused. We have to be careful about some of these kinds of things. I hope you understand what I’m saying, that sometimes we can go too far with some of these kinds of expressions. I like “Hi” and “Bye.” Give a hug to somebody. That’s great. Do I need to say more?

Anyway, I don’t know. If you have to have some words that need to be said, “Have a good day,” that’s great, but I don’t like bringing God into some of those things because sometimes it’s like a blessing from God and “Be blessed,” “Have a blessed day.” Some of those I don’t like because it’s like I’m blessed every day because God’s in it. I don’t have to say it. I don’t have to tell it to anyone else. Because it’s protestant. To me it’s protestant.

Do we want people to have a good day? Yes. Just call it a good day. If I have to say something, “I hope you have a good day.” Don’t have to bring God into it. That’s personal. I hope you understand what I’m saying. Because we have no power with that one one way or another. We can pray for individuals and that’s the best we can do in that regard, and that’s great.

So, it goes on to say, for whoever says to them, Rejoice, not “God speed,” is partaking of their evil deeds. So, if someone is doing something wrong, against the truth, teaching something that’s wrong, some goofy conspiracy thing or whatever it is, and they’re not stopping, their not quitting when you’ve said something to them or they bring some doctrine along, something that doesn’t agree, then it says, whoever says to them, Rejoice, or some greeting, is partaking. In other words, if you don’t make a distinction with them…

Because everyone that does wrong you have to make a distinction, and the first thing you do as a whole is address it. “We’re not on the same page here.” Sometimes those kinds of conversations have had to take place. You know, “We don’t believe that. And that’s something you need to go to the ministry about right now,” and maybe have the guts to say, “And if you don’t right away and discuss this I have to because you’ve shared this with me now and this is wrong, this is just outright wrong. We don’t believe that way. And if you’re telling other people the same kind of stuff…”

Now, see, I would say “garbage.” “If you’re telling the others this same type of garbage.” But I’ve gone through other things to get me where I am today. I don’t have a problem telling people what it is, calling a spade a spade, telling someone “That’s a bunch of crock,” or something else or whatever. “And it’s either you repent and that changes or you’re gone. This doesn’t belong in God’s Church.”

Sometimes we have to take a stand for what is right. Tell someone. What does that do? Makes people a lot more careful about what they say. Even if they haven’t truly repented in spirit and truth they’re going to be more careful not to share that with somebody else, because sometimes those things happen as well.

So, John is being very specific here.

For whoever says to them, wishing them well, is partaking of their evil deeds. See, it’s like, you have to take a stand and call a spade a spade and as long as they’re insisting on doing something that’s wrong, basically, it’s talking about a fellowship, can’t be a part. And if we keep quiet it’s just like saying, “Have a good day,” like…

And even if you don’t say something, that’s as bad as saying, “Have a good day.” Do you realize that? If someone says something that’s just doctrinally incorrect, like someone saying, “Well, no one is going to tell me who I can have fellowship with,” I would stand up to that and say, “Oh yeah? In the Church, we know that if someone is not in the same fellowship and they’ve gone against the fellowship we’re not to have fellowship with them. So, if that’s what you think you’re just dead wrong. We don’t teach that in the Church.”

Because if you’re silent it’s the same thing as this. Might as well just wish them a good day and walk away because you’re doing the same thing. If you’re silent you’re telling them you agree with them. That’s how they take it.

Let’s go back to 1 John 2 now. So, John, when he gets to this point here he’s not mincing words. He’s saying this is the way it should be, because a lot of deceivers have gone out in the world, and we have to be careful. There have been antiChrist, a lot of antiChrists that have risen up within the Church and he’s seen this happen in the era of Ephesus by his time and he’s trying to warn the Church, “Be careful. Look to yourselves. Look out. Look to your own spiritual health and that of others as well,” if we grasp it.

Back in 1 John now, 1 John 2:7. Again, he says, Brethren, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you have heard from the beginning. What was that? It’s part of the doctrine of Christ.

Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you. So, it’s new in the sense it has life in it if you’re doing it, if you’re in him and he’s in you. So, he’s just pushing this part, if you will, to understand, to grasp this that it’s true if this is happening and it’s only new… In other words, what does it mean if we’re not doing it? If we’re not sacrificing self? So, what makes it new in us is when it’s alive in us, we’re exercising God’s love. And this is what he’s saying. It’s new in the sense that it can only be real if it’s true in him and in you, because the darkness is past, made possible through Christ, and the true light now shines, we’re able to see it, we’re able to live by it.

Now, continuing in verse 9 where we left off — Whoever says they are in the light… and here is that word again. This is where we kind of began in some of this, and hates their brother… And we know that doesn’t mean “hate” because we went back and looked at this in Luke and what it’s talking about, that it’s a word that’s used by comparison, “to love less.”

So, he’s saying here in context, and love less their brother, by what comparison? Than what he’s just said. Is this commandment true in us because we’re living it, because we are living by it, because we’re exercising God’s spirit, because we’re striving to sacrifice our own ways, our own judgments, our own way of seeing things, and thereby striving to live more at one with each other in the Body? Because that’s what God’s love is about. It’s about a sacrificing kind of love; for us as human beings, we have to sacrifice self.

And so, John is getting very specific about that and discussing this in verse 9. “If we’re in the light.” “Whoever says they’re in the light,” then this has to be the case, that if we love less our brother then we’re not in the light. So, we can’t deceive ourselves. If we’re loving less in the way he’s talking to us here in John, throughout the book of John and what it’s all going back to about Christ and sacrificing then we’re in darkness, as he said, even until, as the word in the Greek is, just right now, just even to this very moment. That’s what he’s telling them, “Even at this moment is in darkness if this isn’t true in their life.”

Verse 10—Whoever it is who loves, again, “in this manner” their brother abides in the light. In what manner? The doctrine of Christ. It’s in us. The truth, this thing about John 13:34, and if we’re in this light, we’re living this way of life, we’re exercising God’s spirit. So Whoever it is who loves their brother, in other words, in this manner, of all that John has been writing about, abides in the light, dwells in the light, dwells in God’s spirit and in them, and the light is in them, and there is no… The word isn’t “occasion of”. …there is no stumbling. Literally, you’re not going to be stumbling. You’re not going to be, as it were, committing offense. Another way of saying it in the Greek language.

So, if we’re living by this we’re living what God wants us to live. We’re living what Christ told us to live on Passover night. And when we don’t live by that then we repent because we’re in agreement with it, that that’s how we should be. And the more we do that the more that grows in us. Awesome!

But whoever loves their brother less, in other words, than what John is saying, is in darkness and walks in darkness. So, in one respect this is new in God’s Church to understand, how deep, how important this is, of what he’s telling us here that if we’re not sacrificing, if we’re not doing this in our life, our ways, our thoughts, our thinking toward others, our will and how we think things should be done then—if there is sin, that’s another matter—but some of the rest of that stuff or most of all that stuff we’ve got to get rid of because it’s not in agreement with God.

That is not an easy thing to do but it must be done. That’s what he’s saying here. And so, for the Church, we’re being told right now that we have been going through a cleansing process and we need to focus on this more because this is a greater refining that needs to take place within us before Christ returns. This is what God wants to see, and candidly will see in all of us, that we’re living by this in our lives more and more and more, that we’re striving to live by this more and more, that we’re loving in this manner, that we’re getting the point.

Remember John 13:34, have it etched in your brain. John 13:34 where Christ said how we’re to love one another “as I have loved you.” Willing to give our life, our ways, our thinking. That’s what the sacrifice is. And that takes sacrifice because you’ve got to tell self “Shut up! Keep it to yourself!” Love or don’t love, one of the two, but the rest has got to go. And that’s what we have to do. Look to yourselves. That’s what he’s telling us. And so this is what every one of us has to do more of. And this is how it works.

So, who loves less than what John is saying? That’s what he’s saying, Ever who loves their brother less (than what I’m telling you). That’s the context, what he’s saying, is in darkness. That’s pretty strong language. …and walks in darkness and doesn’t know where they’re going. We can deceive ourselves into thinking we’re okay. Like the person who doesn’t, of all things, give a Holy Day offering. Doesn’t matter how small. If you don’t have it you can save something. It's amazing what people can save.

See people out here, one guy yesterday by a pole putting up his little sign, walking out there with a stick like he’s on a cane type thing, and then he sits down by a pole and puts up this sign. Then he slumps way, way back like he can’t sit up straight, and hoping that somebody is going to come by and give him some money. Stayed there for about a half an hour. Did it for a whole half an hour. Then got up without his sick and his other stuff and walked off. And it’s like…

So, you look at situations like that, of what people do, deceive themselves, strive to deceive others, and people in the Church have done the same thing. So you think how sick the world we live in, how sick we can be because we know the truth. He doesn’t know the truth out there and wanting people to give him something for nothing and lying like he is.

And we have everything. We’ve been given the greatest treasures on earth. I think of this period of time in God’s Church. We have been given the greatest of treasure of anyone who has ever lived, save Joshua. He’s the only one who was given that treasure in here in such a powerful way that we can’t even grasp it fully. We can strive to appreciate it but as far as knowing things, truth that God has given to us because He’s preparing for His Son to return, there has never been a time like this. Not many have the opportunity of having it either. And so many who have.

So, individuals who will steal from God, rob from God, this isn’t a part of their life. And we have to go way beyond that. That’s the point.

I want to read part of this again. Who so loves less his brother is in darkness, walks in darkness, and doesn’t know where he’s going because the darkness has blinded his eyes. So, we can think we’re okay. Individuals who still go to Sabbath services or go through the motions of certain things and won’t do the major thing that we’re supposed to do before we even are baptized boggles the mind. But what’s sad about it is they can’t even see it. That’s what darkness is like.

If you can’t see something, you get to a point in God’s Church, and people who leave and go into the world, there are things they really can’t see anymore. Clean and unclean foods, at times people “Still don’t eat pork. Have my christmas tree but I don’t eat pork!” It’s like a badge of honor, you took something with you. That’s not too much. But they can’t see what’s spiritual.

And it’s a sad thing to see someone in the Church begin to lose their ability to see things that are true. And the most, the greatest thing we need to see is ourselves. It takes God’s spirit to see this, to know what has to change, to know what to pray about, what to cry out about. And this is what John is going through.

So, I’m going through this in 1 John talking about it to the Church in a depth that we have never done in God’s Church ever – ever, ever, ever. And either we see these things, or we don’t. Only God can give it to us. So even what we hear, it has to do with our relationship with God.

For all that’s in the world… Isn’t that amazing where this is? Verse 15—Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world… After it talks about them being in darkness and their eyes are blinded. So, neither the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father (agape) is not in him or in them. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but it is of the world.

So, when John says many have gone out in the world, this is what they chose, “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.”

Also, the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but whoever does the will of God abides forever. What a beautiful thing. If we strive to do what is right, what is a matter of God’s will, it’s an awesome thing, “abides forever.”

Verse 18—Little children, it is the last time; and as you have heard that antiChrist shall come. Now, what an incredible thing here to say, “the last time.” Well, at this point in time there is less than two thousand years to be fulfilled, to be accomplished; we’re at that point, in other words, in what he’s writing here. And yet he’s referring to everything that’s passed before that.

He says, “Little children it’s the last time; and as you have heard that antiChrist shall come.” So, yeah, it was for those he had known, people who had grown up in the Church, older ones especially. There were those who were going to continue on. And yet it wasn’t the end, it wasn’t the last, in that respect. Christ talked about coming at the end here. And yet there were two thousand more years. And here we are now finally at the end of six thousand years. Incredible.

It is the last time, and you have heard that antiChrist shall come; even now are there many antiChrists. So, this is only a short time into the period of the Church. John had no idea that the Church was going to go on for, what, nineteen hundred more years. But looking back it’s easy to look at things looking back, but to look ahead and know these things, he didn’t know it.

And so, he’s making a comment here and he says, “Look what’s happened,” in essence, “in the Church. You have heard that antiChrist shall come…” Well, how did they hear that? It goes back to 2 Thessalonians. They were told this. Paul told them. This went out to the Church in a very powerful way, that Christ is not going to come until there is a great falling away, the man of sin, the son of perdition is going to come.

And so he said, “You have heard that antiChrist shall come; even now there are many antiChrists.” That’s an awesome thing that he brought out here because there is one that’s coming that’s going to come before Christ, but already there have been so many that have turned against Christ in the Church. Mind-boggling! In the short time, if you look at it, of the two thousand years, because it didn’t start until 31 AD, the Church, and here we’re talking about maybe the ’80s or somewhere in there.

Think I’ve already lived that one in the Church. Yeah. The things we see. Incredible!

…therefore, we know that it’s the last time. Because there are many. They went out from us, but they weren’t of us. Something that sometimes the first time people experience this in the Church and experience that happening it’s an eye-opener. But it’s something that has to be experienced and learned from and understood.

They went out from us, but they weren’t of us, for if they had been of us, they would have continued (that word abided, remained) with us. They would have continued doing the same things we’re all striving to do. They wouldn’t have given up. They wouldn’t have quit. They wouldn’t have turned away. They wouldn’t have turned against Christ. But when they did they became antiChrist.

But they went out that they might be made manifest. In other words, that it’s made clear, it’s made visible that they were not of us. So, that’s a horrible thing when it happens because we’re all given opportunity. Everyone who has ever been called has the opportunity to see it through to the end, to death, or to a change to become part of Elohim. Because God has made the way possible by giving us the truth in the mind and then the choices are ours. That’s what’s incredible to understand.

We have to make the choices then as to what we do and what we don’t do, as to how much work we’re going to put in it, as to the fighting we’re going to do, as to how much we’re going to fight this, as to what we’re going to glean from services, from Sabbath to Sabbath, to Holy Day to Holy Day, and strive to apply it to our life in making changes and striving to love more the way God says we’re to live in love.

And so, those things had to be made manifest. If something like this happens it has to be made visible so people can learn from it and understand and realize that even with God’s spirit people can leave. And most have. And that’s a sobering thing. And that should reinforce then this desire to fight and to cry out to God for help because you can’t do it by yourself. You have to ask for help constantly. That’s why we pray. If you ever pray without asking God for help, for His holy spirit, you’ve missed something in the prayer that should always be there.

Verse 20—But you have an anointing from the holy, or the sacred. Yeah, definitely we do. That’s what it means, it does come from God. It’s not the word for “Holy One,” for God. But it means “from the holy,” “from the sacred,” which is God. The source is God. God’s spirit, it comes from Him. That which comes and has impregnated our minds, that kind of anointing that filled our life with His spirit, begins to fill our life with His spirit after that on a constant basis as long as we’re repenting and striving to be close to Him. We want Him always in us and us in Him and His Son.

…and you know all things. In other words, what we’ve been given to this time. We know how because of this, because of God’s spirit. That’s what he’s saying here.

I have not written unto you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth. So we are able to spot lies. We are able to see when something doesn’t agree with the truth. And that’s when we have to stand. We can’t agree with it. If we’re quiet we agreed with it as far as the other party. We have to stand for God’s way of life, for the sake of the Church, for the sake of one another, out of love toward one another.

…not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but whoever denies Joshua the Christ? Beautiful. That’s so succinct. So, that’s not confessing by our life because one is denying Christ to live within them. How? “Lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life,” the world. They’ve chosen that, some part of it, whatever that might mean.

To have more money, they think, so God doesn’t receive His. Perhaps to be with someone, to have a certain relationship that is immoral because you’re practicing immoral things, because you want to continue to take drugs or drink alcohol to excess and misuse something that’s damaging to the mind and life, and whatever it might be in relationships. Anyway, it’s amazing what people, human beings can choose to walk away from the truth.

So, Who is a liar but whoever denies Joshua the Christ? In other words, to live in us. And that’s done by sin.

They are antiChrist who deny the Father and the Son. So, it’s saying it over and over again in different ways to drive the point home.

Whoever denies the Son, the same doesn’t have the Father … Let that, therefore abide (continue, remain) in you which you have heard from the beginning. You have to sacrifice.

That’s why I think about some of those things in the Old Testament and so forth and what it says as well in Leviticus 23 about the Holy Days and about the sacrifices and so forth. And so much of that is to get a point across that this is what we have to do. You have to be willing to sacrifice to God. Self.

Theirs was physical; ours is spiritual. It has to do with the mind. It has to do with our actions. It has to do with our thinking and our deepest of thoughts because the deepest of our thoughts have to do with little cogwheels up here that are turning around and around and how we’re viewing other things in the world around us and others in the world around us. And we have to be so careful of that.

Let that, therefore, continue in you which you heard from the beginning. In other words, exercise God’s love. You have to work at that. You have to work on self.

If that which you have heard from the beginning shall remain in you… Willing to sacrifice, to have right relationships, willing to not get your own way, willing to be done wrong by someone, and willing to do what is right in that regard in how you handle it.

If that which you have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, you will continue in the Son and in the Father. And isn’t that what we all want? Even this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life. So, we have it living in us if we will. There’s power there to think right, to live right, to act right toward one another. It’s about Family. And we’ve got to learn it right now in order to have that Family, to be in the Family with the kind of unity and oneness we can’t even begin to grasp right now because of the physical minds we have.

But the anointing which you have received of him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you. I’ve heard of people screwing up, misusing scriptures like this, and individuals thinking they have some truth that others don’t see or whatever it might be. And it’s like, “God gave this to me.”

No, what God gives you is what you receive on the Sabbath and the Holy Days, and in writing and so forth. That’s what God gives to us and that’s how He works in the Church. Always has. But it says here, But the anointing which you have received of him abides in you, and you don’t have need that… In other words, something different. We don’t need that someone else…

Why would we listen to junk out there when we know where the source of all truth is? And yet I am dumbfounded by people getting hung up in these…in believing certain things that they hear in the news or by some far left or far right and not coming to the point of realizing you can’t take those things in. That’s not where the truth comes from. Everybody out there has their own agenda, they have their own slide on things, their own prejudice, and their own…

It’s like this Covid thing that will never go away. We did something within the Church that was unique to the Church, and now there are situations out there where people are saying… We were talking about that I think last night a little bit here, It was mentioned, they made a comment that there are some out here that, saw, I think, on the far right that want to denigrate or put down the things about the vaccine. Now sure what their full agenda is. But anyway, it’s like, “You’re going to die because you took a shot!”

So, well, I’m going to die. We’re all going to die. Whether it was a shot or not, well, I’m not worried about that for God’s Church. God takes care of His Church. We do what God says, what God gives us through the Church, and we’ll live, physically and spiritually.

But the anointing you have received abides in you, and you don’t need anyone teach you. But as the same anointing teaches you… In other words, how do we learn? By God’s spirit. And He teaches us Sabbath by Sabbath, Holy Day to Holy Day and we grow. We don’t remain the same. There are more things that God builds within us.

So, the same anointing teaches you of all things, God’s spirit, the impregnation of God’s spirit living in us, and is truth and is no lie, and even as it has taught you, you shall abide in it, in the truth.

Verse 28—Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He makes manifest (as the word is, made visible) we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at his coming. If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who does righteousness is born of Him, is begotten of Him.

So again, understanding how God works, understanding how God’s spirit works, it all comes from God, it’s through Christ, it’s in the Church then to us.

I’m going to go ahead and stop there. These are very simple and basic things that John is saying here but they’re powerful, they really are. And to understand how we are able to continue in the Body, in the Church, that’s what John is discussing here. So, there’s a lot more we have yet to cover in 1 John and we’ll continue in that next Sabbath.

1. Chapter 1