2 John 1:7-8 I say this because many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch out that you do not lose what we have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully.
Suppose we could imagine the problem of false teachers in the Christian Church during the days that John wrote this book. Envision how this evil phenomenon has morphed over the last two centuries. The one thing that today's false teachers have in common with those of John's Day is the same; they deny that Christ Jesus was the true promised Messiah. Paul warns us that Satan will masquerade himself as an "angel of light" (2 Corinthians 11:14), so all believers and followers in and of Christ Jesus must be on a vigilant guard. We most efficiently accomplish this by having an intimate understanding and familiarity with the truth of the Holy Word of God.
The crucial blunder that was flowing widespread in John's time was those who denied that Jesus was God that came in the flesh (1 John 5:1).
They could not envision the truth that Jesus was indeed both God and a perfect man. Unfortunately, today, many people are still in that same sinking boat (1 John 4:2). We live in a time when too many people do not want to employ spiritual discernment simply because today, people view truth as relevant to whatever each person views as the truth. Consequently, instead of standing against the wiles and deceits of the world, too many Christians are enthralled by it.
These false believers and allies of Satan slip into a church very subtlety and unnoticed. They will come in and pretend to believe the truth of God's Word and slowly and methodically spread their false teaching hoping to find immature Christians that they can win over to their way of thinking (2 Peter 2:1; Jude 1:4). If someone is wrong about who Christ Jesus is, they are totally out of the realm of the truth of God's Word. We can know these workers of Satan by their genuine belief in Christ Jesus (Matthew 22:41-46).
The rewards spoken of in this scripture verse are not our salvation because it is not a reward. It is a free gift, we do not earn our salvation; it is a gift from God because of His love for us; consequently, we cannot lose our salvation. There are rewards in heaven that we know nothing about in the here and now, possibly because our human minds cannot comprehend the greatness of heaven. There are also rewards in the here and now, blessings like God will never leave or forsake us, blessings as we will never have to walk through a dark valley alone, Christ Jesus will forever be there to hold our hands. Blessings, including the leading guiding and direction of the Holy Spirit into the truth of God's Word. We will never lose the indwelling of the Holy Spirit no more than we can lose our salvation. However, if we allow the world's ways, including the lies and deceits of the false teachers, to cloud over our reception to the leading of God's Holy Spirit, we may lose valuable time in which we have to grasp the truth of God's Word. Furthermore, time is something that we have very little of here in this life (James 4:14).
If You would like the Verse of the Day sent to your daily E-Mail send a request in the "Comments" section. Please include your e-mail address
No comments:
Post a Comment