Good evening, everybody. Let's make our way over to our chairs. In about 30 seconds, we'll pray to begin our worship time. And also, if you can hear me from the other side, too, let's go ahead and get situated. And we'll begin in just 30 seconds. OK, everybody, please join me in a word of prayer.

Let us pray together. Our God and Father, we are so grateful to you. God, in every season, we owe you our gratitude. And as we think about the undeserved grace you grant to us, God, we recognize that you bless us with your overflowing love. Lord, I pray that that would continue just to fuel us, to walk each day desiring to fellowship and commune with you.

And God, every time we're able to come together in the study of your word, in the fellowship of learning your truth and gaining conviction, we are just reminded all the more of the privileges you grant to us in Christ. We want to pray, God, that you continue to fill our hearts and our minds with awe and wonder of you so that, Lord, we can lift up to you our songs of praise with a united voice.

And we also pray, God, that you would do your sanctifying work, that each time we gather, God, it would produce the fruit of growth and maturity. And what's more, that it would continue just to wash all the things that perhaps are distracting us, the things that are preventing us from coming to you.

Would you grant that sanctification, Lord? We again want to thank you for this time and lift up these songs to you. In Christ's name, amen. Come, thou fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing thy praise. Streams of mercy never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise. Teach me some melodious sonnet sung by flaming tongues above.

Praise of mountains fixed upon it, mounds of thy redeeming love. Here I raise my Ebenezer, bitter by thy help I'm come. And I hope by thy good pleasure, safely to arrive at home. Jesus saw me when a stranger, wandering from the fold of God. He to rescue me from danger interposed his precious blood.

O to grace how great a debtor, daily I'm constrained to be. Let thy goodness, like a fetter, buy my wandering heart to thee. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, I'll take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above.

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, I'll take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above. For my waking breath, for my daily breath, I depend on you. I depend on you for the sun to rise, for my sleep at night.

I depend on you. I depend on you. You're the way, the truth, and the life. You're the well that never runs dry. I'm the branch and you are the vine. Draw me close and teach me to abide. Where the spirit leads, as I'm following, I depend on you. I depend on you for the victories still in front of me.

I depend on you. I depend on you. You're the way, the truth, and the life. You're the well that never runs dry. I'm the branch and you are the vine. Draw me close and teach me to abide. Be my strength, my song in the night. Be my all, my treasure, my prize.

I am yours forever, you're mine. Draw me close and teach me to abide. When I pass through death, as I enter grace, I depend on you. I depend on you for eternal life, to be raised with Christ. I depend on you. I depend on you. You're the way, the truth, and the life.

You're the well that never runs dry. I'm the branch and you are the vine. Draw me close and teach me to abide. Be my strength, my song in the night. Be my all, my treasure, my prize. I am yours forever, you're mine. Draw me close and teach me to abide.

Be my strength, my song in the night. Be my all, my treasure, my prize. I am yours forever, you're mine. Draw me close and teach me to abide. All right, amen. Before we divide into our groups to discuss, just a few important announcements for everybody. Please make sure that you are looking ahead at the calendar for Easter week.

It's coming up in just a short amount of time. Please note that from Monday through Friday, there is something going on each evening. From Monday through Wednesday, we are going to have 730 devotions. And then-- sorry, that was Monday through Wednesday. And then Thursday night will be Passover meal.

You do have to sign up to participate in that reenactment of the Passover meal. And then Good Friday is going to be 730 PM, where we'll be participating in the communion as well. Early rise on Sunday will take place 6 AM in the outdoor courtyard. So please also mark that on your calendar and just put a note there to dress warmly before you come.

On Easter, after the main services, we will be providing some fellowship lunch. Even the first service, we're going to be giving box lunches to go. Because there has to be a transition into the second service, we're going to request people take their meal and go home. But for the second service, there will also be some seating for fellowship as well.

I'm just giving an early heads up because it's going to come up really soon in just a few short weeks. OK. The other thing I want to mention is just please make sure you mark your calendars for the members meeting and service fair that will happen April 23. I just want to highlight that as making sure everybody saves a date for that.

For tonight, there are some questions that Pastor Peter Chung wanted to give you as the preliminary questions to go over within your discussion about your inductive observations and questions. So here are just three. Share your questions and observations. But what is the thing that can be potentially lost in this passage?

What is the reward? Also, what would be the challenges, risks, benefits of the application or even misapplication? So please make sure you include those into your discussion. You guys are at this time dismissed, and then we'll be back at 8. Thanks, everyone. Yeah. Testing. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.

Hi, Tammy. Hello, hello, hello, hello. Hello, hello, hello, hello. Is this on? Can you hear me? No, OK. You can hear me from this? OK. Can-- oh, uh, uh. Uh, uh. Eh, eh, eh, uh, uh. Can you hear me? No? Yes, no? Woo-jean. Can you hear me? OK. All right.

If you guys can focus your attention up to the screen real quick. Let me-- let me pray for us, and then we'll do a quick time of, like, a little wrap-up of today's passage. Father, thank you for just your inerrant word and for giving us the ability to study this just with other people and to glean from others' observations.

And we pray that as we look into this, that you would cause us to just grow in our delight of the word and help us to also grow in our understanding and discernment of what you are saying and what you're not saying through this passage. And Lord, as those who have their senses trained to discern good and evil through practice of your word, I pray that you would just give us a desire, really, to apply the things that we see, even when it doesn't seem always practical.

And so give us wisdom, especially as the application of today's passage does seem a little bit cold if applied incorrectly. So would you bless our time of study together? And I pray this in Jesus' name. So this is-- the first thing that I do with this passage, just so that I can kind of organize in sight just what I need to focus on and what I can track through in terms of my inductive questions, there are what I would deem three significant words-- or two significant words.

One of them is "for," and that's from last week's passage. I ask you, lady, that we love one another, et cetera, et cetera. We walk according to his commandments. Why? There's many false prophets and antichrists and deceivers. So that's what we're going to be looking at. So significant words.

And then one of the hinge words is "this teaching." Whether you bring someone into your house, give them a greeting, whatever that means, and whether you don't depends on this teaching and the abiding of this teaching. So that's actually a very important thing, to discern what is the teaching.

Secondly, I just highlighted all the characteristics that 2 John gives about the deceivers and the antichrists. And then the only three commands in all of this letter I just put in the light blue. So that-- because usually if there's a command, and then it's coming from an apostle, there's some degree of expectation that I obey it.

It's not like a suggestion. So there are three imperatives there. And they are "watch," "do not receive," and "do not give." Okay? And then the yellow is more like what is expected of a believer. Okay, so that's how I would just organize it for my eyes. And just as a quick review, we're looking at two major chunks of 2 John.

You have the section of the internal-- the Christian fellowship. And then what we're looking at for the bulk of today is the doctrinal dangers that are hovering around the church. Okay? And possibly it could cause you to lose something. All right, so what is that? And so I just cut, paste, and put stuff in here in the green.

All right? So the doctrinal dangers-- so there are many deceivers that have gone on into the world. Many. So this is a real threat. At this time, one of the heresies is Jesus didn't come in the flesh. He only appeared, right, to come in the flesh. He wasn't a man.

That's why 1 John actually starts with, "That which we have seen from the beginning, "that which we have heard, that our hands have touched." Because there was a teaching going around saying that Jesus only appeared to be a man. He actually wasn't. So that's something that could be being addressed here.

And it's a spirit of the Antichrist here, the deceiver. They go too far, or they run ahead, right? So that's what they do. The literal word in the Greek is "progressive" almost. It's like--it means "progressive." Okay? This progressive person. And then they don't abide in the teaching, and they don't have God.

And they don't not just abide, they bring something completely foreign. Okay? They don't bring this teaching. And it's evil. And you join him in this. It's evil. So that's--I look at that, and then my mind knows what to kind of focus on. And in that context, I have three commands.

I need to watch myself. And then whoever these guys are, I don't receive, I don't give a greeting. Okay? So that's how I would start. And then in the process of this, I end up with some questions. What is this thing that could be lost? Nod your heads if you guys had that question.

Right? What is this? What is it that was accomplished? Who is the "we"? Who accomplished this? Is it John and the lady and her kids? Or John and the church and the saints? Is it John and all the apostles? Is it John and us? Like, what is this "we"?

Right? And then what's the reward? Is there, like, a reward system in heaven? And then obviously a lot of these questions you might have to jump out of 2 John to answer biblically, but those are some of the questions that would preliminarily just come up in my head. And so this is how I would answer them preliminarily.

Okay? What is the thing that could be lost here? Is it perhaps the teaching that could be lost? Is it the abiding that could be lost? Is it, like, God, salvation that could be lost? And my instinct tells me, "No, I don't think that's quite what it is." Right?

What's the stuff that's accomplished? Is it, like, the establishment of the church? Is it, like, the fruit of the abiders? What is it that could be lost? Or what was it that was accomplished? Because they don't accomplish salvation. Okay, so those are the thoughts that I have. And then is salvation the reward?

What is the reward? Is it, like, God the Father, God the Son? Because that's mentioned. So what exactly is the reward? And that's how my mind would start tracking through what I need to look for in 2 John. If I can't find it in 2 John, I'll go to 1 and 3 John.

If I can't find it there, I'll look at John, the gospel, Revelation, New Testament, and then I'll just start branching out to see if I can answer these questions. Okay? One interesting thing is all of 2 John, all the "us" are in the plural. And that's something-- immediately my mind's like, if it's all the "us" are in the plural, okay, watch yourselves, that you, plural, you all do not lose what we have accomplished.

That doesn't make it feel like a whole group of you can lose your salvation. Right? Or that you all may receive a full reward. So that will affect my understanding that all the "us" are in the plural. And even receiving someone into the house, giving someone a greeting. If it's a church-wide exhortation, it's a little different from if it's a personal one.

Okay? And, yeah, that's kind of where my brain is going. One of the passages that comes to mind in terms of what can be lost, okay, or what can be earned, I'll go to John 8, 31 to 37. So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed him, "If you continue in my word, then you are truly disciples of mine.

And you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." They answered him, "We are Abraham's descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say you will become free?" And Jesus answered to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.

The slave does not remain in the house forever. The son does remain forever." So if the son makes you free, you will be free indeed, permanent. Okay? "I know that you are Abraham's descendants, yet you seek to kill me because my word has no place in you." So there are similar themes that are going on here.

Is it possible for someone to believe in Jesus and not abide in Christ? There are things and observations I can make from this passage. You can believe in the words of Jesus like these Jews, but the fact that they don't continue is a telltale sign that they're not. And what is more, the fact that they even want to kill him and expunge him out of their lives, it's pretty telling.

So there are similar themes that I will make observations of in the Gospel of John here. John 10, 26-30, "But you do not believe because you are not of my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

My Father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one. Can you lose your salvation? You cannot. If Christ sets you free, if he saves you, can you reverse that and run away from it?

No." So this is another passage that will form and shape my theology. 1 John 2-18, talking about apostates here, "Children, it is the last hour, and just as you heard that the Antichrist is coming, that Antichrist is coming, even now many Antichrists have appeared. From this we know that it is the last hour.

They went out from us, but they were not really of us. If they had been of us, they would have remained with us. But they went out. So it will be shown that they all are not of us. But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know." So I will consult these passages to think through what is it that is being lost?

What is the stuff that's being accomplished? Can human beings accomplish salvation? No. So then what is John talking about? And just through the context, I saw this, okay? I'm on the Charles Haddon Spurgeon Facebook fan page, so I get quotes every day, okay? But it reads, "A time will come when instead of shepherds feeding the sheep, the church will have clowns entertaining the goats." So if Charles Haddon Spurgeon were to say to us, this is my last sermon, "Do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may gain a full reward." If, let's say, Pastor Peter were to share with us, "Don't mess up what we have accomplished in the last 26 years by the grace of God.

Let's all pursue gaining a full reward." I feel like that's kind of akin to what we're looking at here, right? Protect the church from these false prophets. We've worked hard to build God's church His way, according to His commandments, and the enemy is constantly assaulting the church. You need to watch yourself.

And if you see these little people coming in and trying to distract, and most of what they're going to bring to you is going to sound kind of okay, don't receive them. Don't even give them grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ. That's how I take it.

Like, don't consider them a Christian. Don't say, "Brother." Don't say, "My dear sister," who is of a different faith. Eh. So don't associate with their doctrine. And obviously, it's going to take wisdom in terms of how you associate with the person, but the church needs to be protected from any and every assault.

Amen? So that's what I see. I don't see this like, "But that verse says, 'Don't lose what we accomplished.' It means I could lose my salvation." No, it doesn't, if you actually look at the whole of the context. And then I'm looking at, what does another apostle, what do other people have to say about this kind of stuff?

Oh, so going back to this, is doctrine important? For sure. Especially in today's day and age. Is it important? Absolutely. And that's why at our church, we try to guard the pulpit from any strange teaching. Because we don't want to lose what was already accomplished by the grace of God.

Okay? So here's what Paul has to say. "But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times, some will fall away from the faith." Okay, they weren't really of the faith, but some will fall away, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons. There are lots of doctrines of demons, I believe, that are floating around in Christendom in today's context.

And a lot of my college friends are promoting some of them. You guys know. There's a lot of people who go to church and do strange things. But you pay close attention to two things. To yourself and to your teaching. And obviously this is to Timothy, but it also applies to everyone who calls himself a servant of Christ.

Pay close attention. Scrutinize yourself and your teaching. NIV actually calls it "Watch your life and doctrine closely." And persevere in these things, for as you do this, you will be assured of salvation both for yourself and those who hear you. So the word "abide" kind of comes back into my mind.

So the word "abide" in John's letters are very important. In his gospels, very important. In the book of Revelation, I don't recall it being used much, but the word "abide" is very important to John's theology. And I'm going to just slowly wrap up with one more. So who do we receive?

Who do we greet? That's an important question. And then who do we shun? So John says, Jesus says, "Abide in me, and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches.

He who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone, any pastor, any teacher, especially, does not abide in me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up. And they gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned." The tree will be known by its fruit, right?

It will be burned. "If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples." So there is an element of like perseverance.

Perseverance is one of the hallmarks of all true believers. Right? A genuine believer will persevere to the very end. A lot of times, let's say pleasures of life, worries of this world, persecution, you guys know the parallel of the soils. They all fall out, they don't bear any fruit.

But the genuine fruit-bearing soil actually is multiple, 30, 60, 100 fold. And one last little passage that I wanted to... "Sheep costumes worn by talented wolves," is how I titled this. Can you guys spot the wolf? I don't know, I mean, that's probably just photoshopped or something, but I thought it was pretty clever.

Usually people occupy the pulpit not always because they're faithful men, it's because they're talented and gifted. And they have nice resumes. No church should ever hire or ordain or put someone up just because they can tell a tale, they can manipulate some emotions. It has to be a man who not only teaches according to the word of God, but also lives it out.

That's all over the pages of the New Testament. You can't escape it. And one of the problems we have in modern day Christendom is people have been hired because of the seminary degree, because of their doctorate, because of, you know, and then they're tall, dark, handsome, they can make you cry, all that stuff.

Or they can tell a good sermon. You can have false prophets preach very well. So, Titus 1.9.16 also says something similar, and this is the other pastoral epistle. And this is talking about elders, okay, "But holding fast the faithful word, "which is in accordance with the teaching, "so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine "and to refute those who contradict." There's a lot of contradictors, okay?

"So for there are many rebellious men, "empty talkers and deceivers, "especially those of the circumcision, "who must be silenced "because they are upsetting whole families, "teaching things they should not teach "for the sake of sordid gain. "And they profess to know God, "but by their deeds they deny him, "being detestable and disobedient "and worthless for any good deed.

"Watch your life and doctrine closely, "is a constant theme." Right? So I'm gonna take it back to today's passage. And I'm just gonna read this, okay? I just hovered over a bunch of stuff, but let me just read this passage. "For many deceivers have gone out into the world, "those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ's coming in the flesh.

"This is the deceiver and the antichrist. "Watch yourselves, "that you do not lose what we have accomplished, "but that you may receive a full reward. "Anyone who goes too far "and does not abide in the teaching of Christ "does not have God. "The one who abides in the teaching, "he has both the Father and the Son.

"If anyone comes to you "and does not bring this teaching, "do not receive him into your house. "Do not give him a greeting, "for the one who gives him a greeting "participates in his evil deeds." And this is the charge to the church. We need to take very seriously who we endorse, who we empower, because there's a lot to lose.

Right? Before I get to the discussion questions, just next week is we're in 3 John, and it's the first half of it, verses 1 through 7, and then the following will be the end of 3 John, and so then we're on to our fourth book of this term, okay, Philemon.

In Philemon, we're gonna go uber slow, 25 verses, 7 weeks. Okay, so we're gonna enjoy. We're gonna be spending 7 weeks on forgiveness, okay? So here are some of the discussion questions. In what specific areas of your life or doctrine-- again, you don't have to be a pastor to heed this exhortation-- so in what specific areas of your life or doctrine do you need to pay much closer attention to?

How can those in your group help you in this? Some of you guys are well-meaning, but let's say you don't really know the Word of God. You're prone to deception. So how do we build toward biblical literacy? Some of you guys are entangled. A lot of times, confession leads to healing.

So what are those things that we need to really pay or scrutinize in our lives? And number two, what are tangible ways you can help protect our church from the wolves? Okay, you can't be like, "Well, I trust our pastors." But a lot of times, let's say, "Yeah, what can you do to help with that endeavor?" Second, what are the tangible ways you can help to encourage the sheep and the shepherds who are in the fold?

So that's in 3 John. We're going to be talking a lot about that in 3 John. But what can we do to encourage? So what can you do to help fight and guard and defend? And then what can you do to build up and strengthen? One body, many parts.

Third, how are you doing in the area of abiding in the teachings of Christ? Similar to question number one, but not exactly. So you can answer it both in one shot, or you could answer them just individually. All right, let me pray for us, and then we'll dismiss to our discussions.

Father, would you grant us discernment, grant us wisdom? We know, Lord God, with true biblical literacy comes terror, humility, but great compassion. So we pray that you would help us to grow biblically literate and help us to learn how to apply your truths appropriately into our lives for the building up of your church, for the expansion of your kingdom, ultimately just for your glory.

So we pray that you would help us to really be excited to labor on behalf of this. We love you, Lord. We thank you for your word. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.