Second John 4

The Bible says in Second John verse 4, “I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father.” John said that he “rejoiced greatly.” It is important to notice what kinds of things brought happiness and joy to the apostles. We live in a world where everyone wants to be happy, but few people are. What brings true happiness? We can see several elements to true happiness in this statement made by the apostle John. True happiness comes from things that money cannot buy. True happiness involves spiritual things and not material things. True happiness has to do with things that are long-lasting and not things that are temporary or short-term. And true happiness has to do with helping others instead of helping yourself.

John rejoiced that he found the members of this congregation “walking in truth.” What does it mean to be walking in truth? A person who is walking in the truth is a person who loves the truth: a person who seeks the truth and wants to know it above all things. Jesus said, “Seek and ye shall find.” Truth can always be found, but it can only be found by those who seek it and go after it. Whatever you think you know, you do not know it unless you are putting it into action. That is why this verse speaks of “walking in truth.” Learning Christian truth is not an intellectual exercise. It is a life-changing experience, or it is nothing. Jesus is the truth. Walking in truth means that you know Jesus as Savior and you stay in fellowship with Him by staying surrendered to Him and by daily confessing your sins to Him.

Notice that the Apostle John states that walking in Christian truth has to do with one commandment in particular. John writes that the commandment is “from the Father.” Anything that is from the father is also from Christ. Anything that is from the Father comes through Christ and by means of Christ. If you are not rightly related to Jesus Christ, then you do not have this commandment and do not keep it. What is the commandment? John makes that clear in verse 5. He writes, “And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.”

John liked writing about the “new commandment.” Evidently John thought that it was a very important commandment. Of course, Jesus is the one who first taught about the new commandment. Jesus said in John 13:34-35, “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” When Jesus taught it, it was a new commandment because no one had taught it before. This was the one great commandment that Jesus wanted His believers to remember and to live by. After all, everything that Jesus did was motivated by love. He came to suffer and die because of His great love for the sinners of the world. Because Jesus loves His followers, He wants others to love His followers, and the only ones that He can count on to do that are the other followers. If you want to please Jesus, make sure that you obey the new commandment that He gave. Make sure that you love all of the other believers.

John wrote in verse 6 of Second John, “And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.” Love for God is always associated to your desire and intention and ability to obey God’s commandments. Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” There must not be very many who love Him, because there are not very many who have the goal to keep the “new” commandment that Jesus gave: to love one another. If you love Jesus, you will love His other followers. There is no way around that. That is the clear emphasis of the new commandment that Jesus gave in the book of Second John and in a large part of the book of First John.

What about those who do not obey the commandment to love one another? John speaks of them in verse 7 where he writes, “For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.” All human beings can be divided into two separate groups: those who know Jesus Christ as Savior and those who do not know Him. All religious teachers can be divided into two groups: those who teach the truth about Jesus Christ and those who are deceivers. A deceiver is someone who causes others to wander away from the truth. Be careful who you listen to. You might be listening to a deceiver: a clever talker who will take you away from the sound doctrine of Jesus Christ: God in the flesh.

There are several things to notice about the false teachers. They do not obey the “new commandment” of Christ to love all the followers of Christ. There are many deceivers. That is why they exist in probably every religious group. There are vast numbers of false teachers. They do not say what the truth says about the true character of Christ. Christ is Jehovah, who was revealed to mankind in the body of human flesh. The god-man came and died for the sins of the world. The deceivers in some way will take away from either the humanity of Christ or the deity of Christ. They are antichrists. There are many antichrists. That is why no one will be able to identify “the” antichrist. John wrote in First John 2:18, “Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.”

Because there are so many false teachers, there exists the possibility that a believer will come under the teachings of such a teacher. Such a thing can have terrible consequences for the believer. Remember that once you are saved, your main goal becomes to be able to gain a reward from the Master when you finally stand before Him. Concerning this goal John writes in verse 8, “Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.” Each Christian life will be judged, not by how it started but by how it finished. Paul knew that and that is why he said in Second Timothy 4:7-8, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”

You will not lose your salvation, but you just might lose your reward or part of it. One of the things that can cause you to lose your reward is the influence of false teachings on you, or any involvement you may have in assisting or approving of false teachers. Before John gives very blunt and direct advice in verses 10 and 11, John reminds us one more time of just what he is referring to concerning these antichrists. John says in verse 9, “Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.”

We must look at verse 9 in the context of the entire little book of second John. The word “doctrine” refers to teaching. This no doubt means the teaching about Christ as well as the teaching that Christ gave. The teaching about Christ is the teaching that Jesus is the god-man. Jesus is God who came in the flesh. That is the significance of the phrase “hath not God” compared to the phrase “hath both the Father and the Son.” You only have God if you have the Father and the Son. That is because the Father and the Son are One. If you came to Jesus and bowed before Jesus, then you came to God and bowed before God. If you claim to have come to God, but you did not come to Jesus, then you did not come to God. The false teachers will definitely say a lot about God and they might even say a lot about Jesus. But they will not worship Jesus as the One true God, One with the Father.

The “doctrine of Christ” refers to the doctrine about Christ: the fact that Christ is God. The doctrine of Christ also refers to the doctrine that came from Christ. There is one central teaching to the doctrine that came from Christ: the teaching for His followers to “love one another.” This one great teaching that Christ gave, that John called the “new commandment.” Anyone who denies the “new commandment” is a deceiver and an antichrist. The deceivers will always find ample justification for their departure from the truth. They will find political reasons, they will find cultural reasons, they will find religious reasons, they will find human reasons, they will find emotional reasons, and they will find historical reasons to deny the “doctrine” that came from Christ: the new commandment that says that believers should love one another. John wrote in Second John 3;14, “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.” Whoever is against Christ is an anitichrist. That is what the word “antichrist” means. But remember that an antichrist is also against the followers of Christ. If you are against the followers of Christ, any of the followers of Christ, then you are the same as an antichrist. Maybe it is proof that you are an antichrist. Remember that you can love God’s children without entering into compromising alliances. Beware of divisive and negative speakers who in reality teach opposition to some of the people of God. “He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.”

The Apostle John tells us to beware of antichrists, and he tells us how to act towards them. John writes in Second John verses 10-11, “If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.” One of the primary goals of life is to do the right thing. Always do the right thing. The unbeliever says, “What must I do to benefit myself?” The believer says, “What must I do to please Christ?” The way to please Christ in regards to false teachers is to have absolutely nothing to do with the false teachers. No man is an island. Everyone in some way is influenced by or affected by others. Looked at from a human standpoint, nothing is accomplished by just one man. When someone accomplished something, there are always many other people who helped him or who taught him or who influenced him in just the right way. Without all of those people, what was done would have never been done. That is true in a positive sense, and it is also true in a negative sense. Even a cup of cold water given in His name will not lose its reward. Make sure that you do not lose your reward by assisting in any way a false teacher: not one who teaches falsely concerning the doctrine about Christ nor one who teaches falsely concerning the doctrine to love that came from Christ.

The Apostle John did not teach falsely. He loved Jesus Christ, and he loved all of the followers of Jesus Christ. And so John closed the book of second John with the words from verses 12 and 13, “Having many things to write unto you, I would not write with paper and ink: but I trust to come unto you, and speak face to face, that our joy may be full. The children of thy elect sister greet thee. Amen.” These concluding verses speak of the importance of Christian fellowship. If you are rightly related to Christ, and if you can find another Christian who is rightly related to Christ, then you will have an opportunity for true Christian fellowship. His or her spirit and your spirit will witness to one another in a way that only the Holy Spirit can make happen. The result will be exactly what the apostle John knew that he would experience when he said, “that our joy may be full.” The Lord Jesus wants His believers to be joyful. Jesus said, “I am come that ye may have life, and that ye may have it more abundantly.” One of the things that the Lord provided to increase our joy is Christian fellowship. No wonder the Bible says in Hebrews 10:29, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” The Psalmist wrote, “I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord.”

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