The Primacy of Truth

Most comprehensively, we walk in the truth. That is to say, we conduct our lives in the realm of the truth.

It determines how we think and how we speak and how we act. We walk in the truth. Welcome to Grace to You with John MacArthur.

I'm your host, Phil Johnson. Power hitters in baseball are expected to hit home runs. Politicians are supposed to demonstrate skilled, persuasive rhetoric.

Executives at Apple generally know a thing or two about phones. So what should you be known for if you're a Christian? John MacArthur looks at a key trait that should mark your life as John explains the fierce commitment every believer should have to the truth. It's part of his current series on Grace to You, a collection of landmark sermons from each book of the New Testament. It's a study we call The New Testament, Beginning to End. Open your Bible or the study Bible app to the book of 2 John and here is today's lesson. Well, let's open our Bibles to a little book that we need to look at, 2 John...2 John. As I have often said, the most important thing, the most important reality is divine truth...divine truth.

It is the one great essential. Let me give you just a brief survey of what the Bible says about divine truth. God is the God of truth, according to Deuteronomy 32 4, meaning He is the source of it. Christ is the truth and full of truth, John 14 6, John 1 14. The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of truth in John 14 17.

The Bible is called in Daniel 10 21, the Scripture of truth. We are saved by the truth. We are sanctified by the truth.

We love the truth. We are judged by the truth. We are set free by the truth. We worship in the truth. We serve God in the truth. We rejoice in the truth. We speak the truth. We think on the truth. We desire the truth. We manifest the truth.

We hear the truth. We obey the truth. Most comprehensively, we walk in the truth. That is to say we conduct our lives in the realm of the truth.

It determines how we think and how we speak and how we act. We walk in the truth. With that as a background, let me read the opening four verses of 2 John. The elder to the chosen lady and her children whom I love in truth and not only I, but also all who know the truth for the sake of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever. Grace, mercy and peace will be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Son of the Father in truth and love.

I was very glad to find some of your children walking in truth, just as we received commandment to do from the Father. Five times in those four verses you have a Greek word, aletheia, meaning truth. Clearly then, John is writing in the realm of the truth. He lives in the truth.

In every sense he is informed and controlled and motivated by the truth. John has written this brief letter to call us to that same truth in a world of lies and liars. The unconverted then are called in Psalm 58, those who speak lies. They live in a realm of lies. They live in a realm of deception and falsehood. The divine indictment of all of the lost rendered in Romans chapter 1 and verse 25 says they exchanged the truth of God for the lie. One deception after another people pursue.

One unfulfilling deception after another. Everybody in the world lives in one of these two realms. You either live in the realm of the truth or you live in the realm of lies. The world then is divided into two groups, those who live in the truth and those who live in lies. Now the role of the church is clearly defined in the Bible. One verse sums it up, 1 Timothy 3.15, the church exists in the world to be the pillar and ground of the truth. The church exists in the world to be the pillar and ground of the truth.

And if the church ever abandons the truth and it ceases to be the church of Jesus Christ, what does it mean when the Apostle Paul writes to Timothy who is pastoring a church in Ephesus, what does it mean when he says that the church is to be the pillar and ground of the truth? They would have understood that because in the city of Ephesus was this massive edifice built to Diana, the god of the Ephesians. Diana sounds like a lovely name and indeed it is, but this particular god was the grossest kind of deity imaginable, in fact an animal and a very ugly one at that. But the temple was massive. It was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, along with the hanging gardens of Babylon and the pyramids and others. And the great feature that struck you when you saw the temple of Diana was the pillars. There were a hundred and twenty-seven of them, massive pillars, solid marble carved and then overlaid with gold and then studded with jewels. When you see the ruins of an ancient temple today, you often see them all as white. There was a time when many of them were overlaid with gold and studded with jewels.

This was one. One hundred and twenty-seven pillars. Every pillar was donated to the building of the temple by a king and bore the name of that king.

And it was all of those kings paying their homage to the goddess and sometimes god, Diana. Now these pillars held up the roof which was an immense structure made of stone. Underneath the pillar were the hederioma which means the support.

As I said, the ground it's called, but this is the hederioma, the support. It references the foundation. So you had this massive stone foundation supporting a hundred and twenty-seven solid marble pillars holding up this heavy roof. That whole edifice, that whole massive structure with its foundation and its pillars and its roof was a testimony to Satan. It was a testimony to lies.

It was a monument to deception. The church, on the other hand, is to be a monument to the truth. We exist to represent the truth. That is our mission and that is our purpose. In failing to uphold and live the truth, we cease to be the church.

As Israel failed to uphold and live the truth and cease to be the witness nation. If there's anything that should ever occur in a church, it should be the centrality of the truth, the revealed truth of God's burden. People treat the church so flippantly today. They blithely come in and out of church never having a thought that they are interacting with a God of truth who hates deception and lies. The true church is the pillar and ground of the truth. It proclaims the truth and the people who are there come to hear the truth. And the truth, of course, is the revealed truth of God.

The only truth that we will know is that which God has revealed to us and that, of course, is revealed in the Scripture. It is the solemn responsibility then of the church to solely, without wavering, without moving, unshakably uphold that truth. The church does not author the message of truth and it alters it only at its own risk. The church is called to be the foundation and the support of the truth. Put it another way, the church has the stewardship of the Scripture.

That is our stewardship. The true church has always clung to the truth, always. In the midst of every storm, in the midst of all persecution, in the midst of rejection, whether its enemies attack from the inside or attack from the outside, the true church has always clung to the truth and thousands through its history have paid the price for the truth rather than compromise it or abandon it. I admit that our challenge is not that we might be killed for the truth. In fact, it would probably be better in terms of holding on to the truth if that were the case. Because if there were outright persecution against those who believe the truth, all the hypocrites would disappear. And the only people who would be left would be the people who really are the people of the truth. Persecution would help us to hold on to the truth because the true saints of God would receive the grace to endure the persecution that comes when the truth is attacked.

We have something far worse than being killed for the truth. We might be rejected by our society for the truth. We might be considered as offensive and divisive. We might be looked at as alien. We might be vilified or even at best treated with indifference.

We might be rejected by those around us. And so, in order to avoid that, we compromise or even set the truth aside that offends. Now the reason for writing and calling people to live in the truth is because of the ever-present threat of false teachers.

Only the threat here is unique. You might say, well if he was worried about false teachers, why didn't he send the letter to the church at Ephesus there, or to the church at some other point in Asia Minor, Sardis, Pergamum, whatever. Or why didn't he send it to the universal church? Why does he write a letter to a lady and a letter to a man and warn them about false teachers and call them to the truth? Well he already wrote his letter to everybody and that was 1 John.

And you certainly haven't forgotten that 1 John basically was directed at this same problem of false teachers. First John 2.18, children, it is the last hour just as you heard that Antichrist is coming, even now many Antichrists have arisen, for this we know it is the last hour. Verse 22, who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? Verse 23, whoever denies the Son doesn't have the Father. And again over in chapter 4 he says, try the spirits, don't believe everybody, see if they're from God. Many false prophets have gone out into the world. Verse 3, every spirit that doesn't confess Jesus is not of God, this is the spirit of the Antichrist. I mean, at the heart of the whole writing of 1 John was the issue that false teachers were present and they were giving a false standard of salvation. And so John, in 1 John, provided doctrinal tests and behavioral tests by which you could evaluate the truth. And so having written the letter to all in general, it is in that sense a general epistle, he now writes these two letters to one lady and one man.

Why so? Because in ancient times preachers traveled and stayed in homes. Inns were brothels, places of disease unacceptable unless one was in desperate need. And those who preached the gospel along with any other traveling teachers were itinerant, moving all over everywhere and depending upon hospitality.

You remember when Jesus sent out the Twelve, you remember that two-by-two in Galilee? He gave them some criteria by which to determine what homes they were going to stay in and how to deal with that. And then when He sent out the seventy-two-by-two later on, He gave them the same kind of instruction about where they would stay and where they wouldn't stay and to go to a place and if you received there to remain there and so forth.

That was pretty much how it worked. You traveled around and you preached and somebody showed you hospitality. Well this appealed greatly to the false teachers. They would claim to be the true teachers of the true gospel, the true representatives of God. They would engage in an itinerant ministry. They would come into town and they say, we're the true preachers of God.

They would be strangers to the people in the town. They would approach those who were in the church. They would approach those who professed Christ. They would say that they also were preachers of the gospel. They would even come to the church. They would seek a place to stay. They would stay there and once embedded there, they would begin to teach their lies and to seek their converts and subvert the church.

No doubt they had done it in Corinth. No doubt those demonized false teachers who came in and were ripping and shredding the Corinthian church had found themselves a place to stay in the homes of the people there and from that embedded vantage point were sowing the seeds of lying deception. And so you have in 2 John, for example, in verse 10, if anyone comes to you and doesn't bring this teaching, don't receive them into your house.

Don't even give them a greeting. You have to be very careful or you're going to wind up participating in His evil deed. On the other hand, look at 3 John verse 6, when the true preachers come, even though they are strangers, verse 5, when they come, you do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God for they went out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles, therefore we ought to support such men that we may be fellow workers with the truth. So they're going to be itinerant preachers, some of them you're going to open your home to and some of them you're not.

Once they become embedded in a home and they can take advantage of someone's weakness or lack of understanding and from that point they can begin to ply their lies and deception, they become dangerous and deadly. It may well have been that this lady unwittingly, unintentionally had actually opened her house to some false teachers. And that is why He says, if someone comes to you again and doesn't bring the teaching, don't receive them into your house. And, you know, this was not an easy thing because Christians were called to hospitality, right? Philoxenos in the Greek, hospitality.

That means loving strangers...loving strangers. But the church, remember now, is the pillar and ground of the truth. And it's not just that you have to be afraid of who gets in the pulpit, you also have to be afraid of who gets in the homes. The church has to be protected from deception, not only by who it allows to preach in the pulpit, it's not likely that a church committed to the truth is all of a sudden going to invite a false teacher in and the leadership of the church is going to say, well go ahead and have at it. The leadership of the church are fairly discerning, hopefully if it's a Bible-teaching church, they're not going to let that happen. But unwitting people who want to be hospitable may allow false teachers to become embedded in their congregation with disastrous results. And after all, Romans 12, 13 says that we're to practice hospitality. We're to open our lives and our homes to strangers.

So it might have been that this lady was thinking to herself when these strangers came along, if in fact that was the case, wow, this is an opportunity for me to open my home to these who proclaim to represent the true God, who claim to be part of us and I'm going to let them in because who knows, I might be entertaining angels without knowing it. In the early church, this kind of caring for people was an essential service, a tangible way to share the love of Christ with strangers as they went from town to town with the gospel. And that was God's plan. God's timing was perfect and one of the things that existed in the world at the time of the New Testament was the Pax Romana, the Roman peace. Rome had basically knocked down all the walls between all the countries in the Mediterranean world so that people could cross the borders without having problems and that made the gospel spread faster. The Romans built roads everywhere. Roman roads, of course, are legendary. Rome developed tolerant laws. Rome erased the threat of borders.

Rome stationed soldiers all over the place to make travel safe everywhere in the empire. Well the Romans all did that to advance their government, but God used it for the fast spread of the gospel. So the church would welcome the preachers like Paul who was given lodging by Lydia, like Jason in Thessalonica, like Gaius in Corinth, or Philip the Evangelist who was given a place among the believers in Caesarea, or a man named Nason in Jerusalem.

It was pretty typical to do that. Well the false teachers soon figured that out. They could make a good living as an itinerant preacher leeching off people everywhere they went and saying just enough to seduce people into thinking they preached the truth and then praying on the gullible Christians who were loving them in a kind way and getting a hearing for their lies and bringing corruption and distress into the church. Even the pagans functioned like this.

I found an old writing of Lucian, the Greek poet. In his writing he drew a word picture in a peregrinus showing an itinerant charlatan who lived on the fat of the land by traveling to Christian communities and settling in to live comfortably at the expense of the Christians, perpetrating himself on them under the guise of being one of them. So in the context of this issue of hospitality, John writes, you have to be careful to maintain the truth. You have to be careful to maintain the truth. We live in the truth...we live in the truth. Sound doctrine is always the test of fellowship...always. The truth...listen carefully...is never served, the truth is never honored, the truth is never respected, the truth is never aided by those who deny it, or those who attack it.

Nothing is gained by being exposed to error. Don't let it in your church. Obviously the church is a pillar in support of the truth.

Don't let it in your house. You cannot hold up the truth and welcome in those who seek to destroy it. So if we get a little defensive around here about protecting the truth, you will understand our mandate.

The truth matters more than anything else. People, if the church loses the truth, it isn't the church. Romans 16, greet one another with a holy kiss, verse 16. All the churches of Christ greet you, a great statement of love and affection. Immediately after, now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned and turn away from them. For such men are slaves not of our Lord Christ, but of their own appetites and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting. If you're sitting in a church full of deceivers, get out. If you're hanging on to some denominational affiliation that has abandoned the truth of the gospel, get out.

The truth and lies are not compatible. In Galatians chapter 1 and verses 8 and 9, even though we are an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed...let him be accursed. Verse 9, as we said before, so I say again just to make sure you get it, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to that which you received, let him be accursed. For am I now seeking the favor of men or of God? Am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ. Take your choice.

What makes you feel the weight? Do you feel the weight of the Word or do you feel the weight of human opinion? Anybody preaching anything other than the truth is accursed. In 2 Thessalonians chapter 3 verse 6, we command you, brother, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you keep aloof from every brother who leads an unruly life and not according to the tradition which you received from us, for you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example because we didn't act in an undisciplined manner among you.

Even if you find a person who deviates in their conduct, stay away. Down in verse 14, if anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, that's the revelation of God, take special note of that man, do not associate with him so that he may be put to shame. Nothing is gained...nothing is gained by mixing error with the truth.

It is always destructive. That's why Titus 3, 10 says, reject a factious man after a first and second warning, knowing that such a man is perverted and sinning being self-condemned. You find somebody who takes a position opposite the truth, you confront him, you go through the discipline process and you put him out because he's twisting, he's sinning and built into that is its own condemnation. Another passage that addresses this, 2 Corinthians 6, do not be bound together with unbelievers, for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness? What fellowship has light with darkness? What harmony has Christ with Belial? What has a believer in common with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? Come out from the midst and be separate, says the Lord.

Don't touch what is unclean. Everything in the Scripture calls us as the church to be separate from lies. John says, truth is everything. I love in the truth with all who know the truth for the sake of the truth. Grace and mercy and peace comes in truth and love. And I'm glad to find some of your children walking in truth.

It's what it's all about, folks. It's about the truth. It's about the truth. When you lose the truth, you lose it all. We need to be soldiers for the truth, don't we? Guarding the truth is critical. We don't just preach the truth. We contend for it.

We fight for it. You're listening to John MacArthur, chancellor of the Masters University and Seminary, with an encouraging message about the value of truth. It's part of his current study on grace to you, covering some of John's most memorable sermons from five decades of ministry. It's titled The New Testament, Beginning to End. John, you said today that the church is the pillar of the truth, and it's to safeguard itself against error.

And I'm wondering what that looks like practically. How does a church defend itself against false teaching? There really are two defenses against false teaching.

One is the knowledge of the truth, and the other is virtuous life. Certainly, if you're going to be able to spot error, you have to know truth. You have to be well-taught in the Word of God.

And by that, I don't just mean culturally crafted, sort of semi-psychological help kind of sermons, you know, that have Bible verses attached. I mean, you have to know sound doctrine. You are protected from error when you have strong convictions. John says when you're strong in the Word, you have overcome the wicked one.

And of course, he's disguised as an angel of light, and he is the arch deceiver. The second thing that's, I think, critical for discernment is walking in obedience, walking in a godly fashion. And of course, the first, taking in the Word of God, is what produces the second. And I would just suggest to you that if you have not availed yourself of the MacArthur New Testament commentary series, that would be a life-changing reality for you. All 27 books of the New Testament, verse by verse, phrase by phrase, word by word. The MacArthur New Testament commentary, this will teach you what every verse in the New Testament means, the doctrine that comes out of it. This will strengthen you, give you triumphant experiences spiritually, and help you stand against all deception.

It'll also make you a resource to everyone else. Find out about the New Testament commentary series, all of it or any volume, and you can order them now. Yes, and as John made clear today, if you're a Christian, you need to be committed to God's Word to knowing, living, and proclaiming biblical truth. The MacArthur New Testament commentary series can help you with that. To order the entire 34-volume set, or any individual volumes, get in touch with us today. You can call us at 800-55-GRACE.

That's 800-55-GRACE. Or order online at GTY.org. If you get the entire set of commentaries all at once, you'll get the best price per volume. Or you can pick up individual commentaries, like the one covering 2 John, the book you heard a lesson from today. To get the commentary volumes you need, call 800-55-GRACE or go to GTY.org. And remember, at GTY.org you'll find thousands of free Bible study resources. If there is a passage in the New Testament that you've struggled to understand or that you simply want to understand in greater depth, you'll find a sermon on it. Or you can check out our blog.

You'll find articles on compelling topics like the doctrine of election and moral purity, and many others. And if you've benefited from John's current radio series, let a friend know about it, and encourage him or her to tune in to Grace To You on this station. Now for John MacArthur, I'm Phil Johnson, encouraging you to be here tomorrow when John shows you how to protect your church from enemies of the Gospel. It's another 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth, one verse at a time, on Wednesday's Grace To You.