Dennis Bevans - Class 2: My Little Children

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

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   This is day two of the 2019 Idlewild Bible School. Our first period teacher is Brother Dennis Bevins. His general subject is John, letters from the disciples whom Jesus loved. Today's topic is my little children. Brother Dennis. Good morning. So I'll start by saying thank you to everyone who gave me tips on how to keep the flies off of me.

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   And for the record, I've incorporated about half of them this morning. I also made another wardrobe change. I did not want to be known as the Lord of the Flies or Lord of the Ties, so I got the memo. All right. Let's get started. 1 John 2, the first verse. My little children, these things write I unto you that you sin not.

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   And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. This phrase, little children, it's a word that appears nine times in the New Testament. Eight of them are by John, so it's a word that he uses more often than any other writer. It's intended as a kindly address of teachers to their students.

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   So it's a term that's really talking to people teaching young children. Seven of the eight John uses are in this first epistle, and we'll look at them as they come. Three of them are in this chapter. This verse, again at verse 12, and at verse 28. So let's look at the other one by John in John 13.

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   If you want to know who the last one is, it's Paul in Galatians 4 and 19, if you want to check it out on your own. This is John 13, starting at verse 33. Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You shall seek me, as I said unto the Jews, whether I go you cannot come.

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   So now I say unto you, a new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one to another. This conversation becomes truly the background and baseline for the story in the rest of the letter, this first letter of John.

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   We're going to see its influence as we navigate today, but there's more. When Jesus said this, he did this between two very similar problems that had two very different outcomes. Let's look at what they were. Verse 21, Jesus had said, He was troubled in spirit and testified and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.

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   Then the disciples looked one to another, doubting of whom he spake. And now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples whom Jesus loved. So we know this is the Lord's Supper with his disciples right before his death. And we notice there are three key disciples called out. Though all of them were present, we have three that are highlighted.

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   Verse 23 is the third person, John, as he references himself in this gospel all the way through. Continuing at verse 24, Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him and said, Should we ask of whom it would be who he spake? He then lying on Jesus' breast said unto him, Lord, who is it? And Jesus answered, He it is to whom I shall give a sop when I have dipped it.

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    And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. So we see Judas and Peter are very much a part of this dialogue. In the next few verses are Jesus telling Judas to do what you've got to do quickly. And he turns his direction back to the remaining disciples.

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    Let's drop to verse 36. Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered, Whither I go, thou canst follow me now, but thou shalt follow me afterwards. Peter said unto him, Lord, why can I not follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake. Jesus answered him, Wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake?

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    Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow till thou hast denied me thrice. And we know this story. Remember, these are the stories that are sandwiching this concept of speaking to the little children that are learning. The teacher to the students. The big question is if we compare and contrast the denial of Peter and the betrayal of Judas, we find very similar things that have a very different outcome.

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    Judas, who's the enemy, Peter becomes the friend. They're very similar in the problem up to the point of discovery. Jesus knows they're going to fail him. He tells them they're going to fail them. He questions him on that failure. But he doesn't give up on them. The method that Jesus used was the same to both of them.

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    Now, the outcome was very different because they responded very differently. And that is the exhortation to us as the children learning from our master. Oftentimes, it is not our failure that is the real problem. It's how we respond to that failure that really matters. We are all going to make mistakes and disappoint each other.

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    That's inevitable. But how we respond to that failure, that's everything. While we have Judas in mind, let's look at a little nugget. This one's tied to one of the seven things Jesus said from the tree. So we're not really straying too far off topic. But we know Peter's story largely because of John's writings.

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    We looked at chapter 21 already. We also can see from the record in the Acts and finally the epistles of Peter. We know how Peter's story ends. But John gives us an insight into the character of Judas that no other gospel writer gives us. Let's look at the chapter before this in chapter 12.

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    Let's keep reading. Was not this ointment sold for 300 pence? Or why was not this ointment sold for 300 pence and given to the poor? This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief and had the bag and bear that which was put therein. That one little detail is something only John tells us.

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    Tells us about the motive. Other writers record the incident, but John in his maturity gets us a little bit more as to the why. So only one of the 12 disciples that he lost was a thief. The only one he lost was regarded as a thief. Who was the last person Jesus saved before he died?

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    The thief on the cross. Judas gave up on himself. Jesus was willing to forgive and save a thief. It wasn't whether Jesus could do it. It was whether Judas could do it. Judas gave up on himself. Jesus never did. And that's the lesson from the Master to the students. So with that in mind, let's go back to the epistle.

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    He's writing from the standpoint of the elder teacher and he's instructing his beloved children. So we went from the beginning of the disciple who Jesus loved and now he is the teacher that loved Jesus' disciples. We've moved in a point of maturity. It's no longer about him feeling the love of Jesus, which is important, but now it's about him loving those that are learning from Jesus.

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    It changes. When we are young and immature in the truth, it's very easy to focus on what ecclesial life is to me. And then in our maturity, it changes to what I can give to ecclesial life. And that's when ecclesial life becomes rewarding. The focus of this second chapter really is maturing in the truth.

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    So he starts with little children. And that's not where it's going to end. There are numerous ties to Romans. We won't look at slides, but Romans 6, Romans 3, very much connected with this chapter. I do want to focus on this word advocate. We have an advocate with the Father. That's a Greek word that's used five times in the New Testament, the number of grace.

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    All of them are by John. The other four are all translated comforter, used in the gospel. They refer to the extension of Jesus' ministry by the power of the Holy Spirit after he ascended. So let's reread it again and insert it as it's translated otherwhere. If any man sin, we have a comforter with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous.

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    He is the propitiation for our sins, and not ours only, but for the sins of the whole world. Propitiation, that's a word we use all the time. It's only got one other use, and that's in chapter 4, verse 10. It means to conciliate. This is truly the work of atonement. That's what's being discussed.

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    It's the atonement for sin. Now, the world is the word cosmos, the order of things, the order of things we see. So for context, let's think of John 1, verse 29. The next day, John seeth Jesus coming to him and said, Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

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    And right now, many of you might be thinking John 3 and 16 in your head, which is well inappropriate. We also could be considering the song in Revelation chapter 5, and we will talk more about that later, but I want to set the tone. Verse 3. Hereby we do know that we know him if we keep his commandments.

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    We're going to pick up on another theme in this chapter, and that's the word know. And it's a word that's going to be used two different words in Greek, and these two words are very different. Now, the English says know both times, so this is one of those opportunities. I think it was Ben talking about coloring.

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    Maybe it was Kitson. One of you was talking about coloring words for word studies in your Bible. This is a good one to do that if that's how you're so inclined. This word is the word for intimate knowledge. The word means understanding, and it's an intimate knowledge. In fact, it is the word that's used when we have Matthew 1 and 25.

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    He knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn and called his name Jesus. That's as intimate of a knowledge as you can have. It doesn't mean it's exclusively that, but it is including intimacy in the knowledge. Now, that's very important because the other word is perception, and we're going to talk about that one in just a couple minutes.

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    But there is a big difference between you and I perceiving something and you and I intimately knowing something. And John is going to really focus on the difference between those two in this chapter. The word keep is the word to guard. The same word is used in James 1, James 2. We'll look at that since James was really the third part of the Christian hierarchy with Peter and John at the time.

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    James 1 and 27. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the world. To guard himself from the spotting of the world. In James 2 and 10 is, who shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point?

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    He is guilty of all. That's that same word keep. So it's keeping in perspective, keeping us unblemished from the world, but the tenor is to know and to do. To keep ourselves undefiled, we have to work. Visiting the widows. Visiting the fatherless. It's not about the visit we receive. It's about the visit we deliver.

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    Let's keep going. He saith, I intimately know him. He that saith, I intimately know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. It's where we ended our topic yesterday morning. If we intimately know Jesus, we must live like him. The truth cannot be held in a corner of our life, but it must grow and it must bear fruit.

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    So we think of the concept of you plant seed, you tend the ground, you water it, and then it starts to grow. It doesn't happen overnight. We would call the farmer a fool that planted seed today and was surprised there was no harvest tomorrow morning. It takes time. And we also take time.

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    But we have to continue to grow. We cannot be the seed that's stunted. We have to continue to grow and then eventually bear fruit. If we're not bearing fruit, we don't understand our God or His truth. That's where the intimate knowledge comes in.

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    But whoso keepeth his word at verse 5, in him verily is the love of God perfected, whereby we shall know that we are in him. This word is agape. So it's the self-sacrificing love of God being perfected by our intimate knowledge of the Father. So he's making a very strong point, repeating the word multiple times.

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    That's to get our attention. Hopefully it has. Because this is maturity in love. It's knowing the commands, keeping the commands, guarding the word and the truth, and then living it by showing the love of our God to those whom we come in contact with. First opportunity is here, but that opportunity certainly extends.

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    In fact, if we do that, we are the answer to Jesus' prayer at John 17. Specifically verse 23. I in them, thou in me, that they may be perfect in one. Or perfected in one. Same word. That the world may know that thou hast sent me. That thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me.

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    That was the intimate prayer of Jesus. Jesus. And we're invited to be the answer of that prayer. The litmus test for this is something my father taught me a long time ago. And many of you knew who my father was. And if you ever listened to him speak, you probably remember it. He was not a great speaker.

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    He just wasn't. And he knew it. But he had some fantastic material. And I remember looking over some of his notes just thinking, what an incredible thought that was. And this one, though very simple, is one of the very first exhortations he did. He used 1 Corinthians 13 as an example. And said, insert your name for love.

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    Dennis never fails. Dennis suffers long. And as you start reading it, you get humbled by every time you say your name. And so if you haven't done this before, he may not be the only one that came up with that, but it was profound to me. And every now and then, when you feel like, maybe I need to check myself a little, we all get there from time to time, read 1 Corinthians 13.

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    Insert your name for the word love, or charity as it's referred to in the King James. And it puts you in proper perspective. It's humbling, but it's also rewarding. Because if you're honest with yourself, you'll say it and you'll feel certain parts, boy, I am miserable at that. And other parts, you get that hope, you know, I actually am good at that.

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    And then we are growing, and we can continue to build. Okay. So at that, this sixth verse is another theme. And hopefully, I'm not driving you nuts with some themes here, but we're going to do that all morning. So there's your warning. There's going to be things that come out of this chapter that the next three chapters are going to be building on.

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    This is another one. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also to walk, even as he walked. The word ought in the Greek is to owe or to be in debt. We have all been bought with a price. Peter uses this phrase, 1 Peter 2.21, for here unto you were called because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow his steps.

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    And of course, John 8, that I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall walk not in darkness, but shall have the light of life. The theme of the light has been there from the first chapter. But what now is going to start catching our attention is this word abide.

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    Verse 7, Brethren, I write no new commandment unto 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. So it was not new to them. It was not new to us. It's the same thing we might have heard.

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    The question is, what are we doing with what we have heard? So he says it another way. Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you, because the darkness is past and the true light now shineth. So the word again, really in the Greek, means on the other hand.

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    So it's not like it's not a new thing, but it's a new thing. He's not contradicting himself. It's not really a new thing, but on the other hand, perhaps it is. It's an old concept, but it's got a new meaning because Jesus made an example applying it in a new way. Let's look at darkness.

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    Hebrews chapter 10 is a great place for this. Hebrews chapter 10, verse 4, It is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. Verse 9, Then he said, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first that he may establish the second. It's the same concept.

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    The concepts that were being taught in the Old Testament, they were old and still relevant. But in the face of Jesus, those same old lessons were given new life. If you've seen me, you've seen the Father. Why? He was a walking, breathing example of God's love and God's glory to those he came in contact with.

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    And that's what we strive to be. We talked about our references from the light in Genesis chapter 1. Relevant, so we'll keep that in mind. The question is, what are we reflecting? We have no light of our own. Are we reflecting the glory of God the way Jesus did by keeping the world out of our line of sight?

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    The honest answer is sometimes the world gets big and it makes the truth look very small. But our God did not change. The truth did not change. What changed was our line of sight and our perception. And that's what he's driving down. So to make the point as he's focused on love, as abiding in God, seeking the light, demonstrating the ways of God through the law and through our life living that love, he then makes it very personal to all of us.

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    He that saith he is in the light and hateth his brother is in darkness even until now. This is the definition of hypocrisy. So on one line, we're being told to love and intimately know the love of the Father and then show that and now it comes right on our footstep is so how do we treat our brethren?

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    Jesus said it this way. Let's go to Matthew 5. Matthew 5, verse 22. But I say unto you, whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whosoever shall say to his brother, your raka, shall be in danger of the council. But whosoever shall say thou fool shall be in danger of hellfire.

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    Now we're getting really personal. Now this is that opportunity for the little hand on the inside, not looking for the hands up on the outside. But there's a couple questions for us to ask ourselves right now. And this is the checking ourself moment. Have we ever, by word or deed, treated a brother or a sister like they were a fool?

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    Maybe we didn't use the word, but perhaps we discounted what they said without further investigation because we didn't like what they said or perhaps we just didn't really like them and it was easier to discount them. Worse yet, have we ever, in the ecclesial setting, perhaps campaigned against someone else because we disagreed with what they said.

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    Now, I'm not saying this happens in every conversation, but I'm not delusional. These things do happen. We are human beings and we are naturally inclined to line ourselves up to people who think like us. That's human nature. But the reality is if there's a hundred people in this room, we have a hundred different vision points of everything.

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    I'm not going to see it the way everyone sees it. And you have to fight that natural urge to go, you know, maybe you see it differently. You see something I don't. That's not an opportunity to discount what you see. It's an opportunity to learn from what you see. And it's okay for you and I to disagree with each other.

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    That's part of where growth comes in. As long as we do it with love. If we do it with love, we can agree to disagree and both grow. Maybe one of us is wrong and we can change. Maybe we're both right and we see it differently and there's more than one answer. Imagine how many conversations in the ecclesial life change if everyone in the room takes that perception.

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    We may not agree, but I have no doubt you have sincerely considered your argument. And if you have sincerely considered it, shouldn't I at least sincerely consider the perception you brought to the table? Our individual judgment depends on us getting that part right. The words are very strong. They're intentionally strong. We have to be different than the world around us.

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    The world around us demands you see it my way. And if you don't see it my way, I'll just find somebody else to see it my way. And maybe ridicule you for being so stubborn. You know, whenever you call someone stubborn, stop and think. Because when you're seeing stubbornness in someone else, often it's because you're stubborn too.

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    And it's fighting each other. When we disagree, we need to do it in love. Because if love is present, growth is possible. Oftentimes, ecclesial life has its ups and downs. When we struggle, it is hard to demonstrate love. And we all know that we've all had tough times. It's hard to demonstrate love.

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    And there's the opportunity for us to demonstrate love to someone who needs to feel it so they can get recharged and demonstrate it themselves later. It's a choice. It's an opportunity for us to choose. So when John brings this to his epistle, the mind goes back to the words of Jesus. And in reality, the life that Jesus led.

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    Whenever things seem to be tough in the ecclesia, we know that he suffered in all points like as we are. But he overcame. So it's possible. And so keeping that concept of the love of Jesus and the love of the brotherhood, at verse 10 he says, he that loveth his brother abideth in the light.

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    And there is none occasion for stumbling into him. Loveth? That's agape. Self-sacrifice. Then what does he who has a self-sacrificing love for his brother do? He abides or dwells in the light. This occasion for stumbling is the word skandalon. You might have done a word study on this at one point. It's a word that means a trap or a snare.

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    To get caught in a trap in the Greek. Great places to go for that. We won't do it. But if you want a little word study on skandalon, find yourself in Romans 11 and in Romans 14. It's a great object lesson.

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    So in contrast to having a self-sacrificing love that we can abide and dwell with the Father in light, alternatively, he that hateth his brother is in darkness. He walks in darkness and he knows not where he goes because the darkness has blinded his eyes. When we focus on ourself, we cannot see anyone else.

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    Human nature. We all have it. This is something now where that other no word is brought in. This word no is not the intimate word. It says, this word no, that he knows not where he goes, this is not intimate. This is the word perception. This is to see or perceive. It's not intimate knowledge.

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    It's our perception. Why? Because the truth never changed. But the way we saw it, the way we saw our brethren, the way we saw the brotherhood, that's what changed. And in that perception change, we lost the line of sight to the love of the Father and abiding with Him in life. If we intimately know it's a problem, that's different.

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    But that's not what this is saying. Most times when there is conflict in any setting, including the meeting, it's often perceived slights and not actual ones. You and I are not capable of reading each other's motives. We might try, we might guess, but at best, it's an educated guess. We're not physically capable of reading each other's motives.

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    Which is exactly why Matthew 18 exists. And we'll talk about that in another class. But it starts with, talk to your brother. You might solve it just by having that conversation. Human nature doesn't want to confront the problem one-on-one. It's so much easier to tell someone else you did something dumb than it is for me to go to you and say, that bothered me.

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    Can we talk? It's harder. Well, that's why it's the right thing to do. When we're angry at our brethren, we are blinded. We cannot see the light. We cannot live the love. That anger must go away for the love to be seen in us. Jesus said it this way. Matthew 6, The light of the body is the eye.

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    If therefore thy eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness? It's a choice to change the darkness. So after delivering a very difficult and highly personal message, he inserts that word again to make sure that the people he's talking to, including you and I, don't take those words and feel bad about them.

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    We own it because he's teaching us. I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his name's sake. I write unto you, fathers, because you have known him. That's the intimate word again. That is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because you have overcome the wicked. I write unto you, little children, because you have intimately known the Father.

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    So he calls them little children again. He's making reference to them as fathers and now young men as well. Again, the word little children at the end, which really should be infants in that, in that last usage, he's denoting stages of maturity. We don't all come to the waters of baptism, come out, and we're at the same level for the rest of our life.

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    We are infants and we will grow. What we grow into is the handiwork of our God matched with the choices of our life. But the growth is there and is possible. By referring to them in fathers, he's showing that their fruit is growing. The wicked, that actually is the word evil. It's an adjective.

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    It's not a noun if you want to put a note for future reference. Jesus said it this way in Matthew 7, If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them who ask Him? We all have to grow.

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    We are either growing or we are dying. The choice is up to us. I write unto you fathers because you have known intimately Him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you young men because you are strong and the Word of God abideth in you and you have overcome the wicked one.

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    He repeats it for emphasis and adds that other theme now. We then can abide or dwell with the Father. We're going to feel that one coming as a crescendo as this week builds. And so we get to three of the most popular verses in all of Scripture, certainly the most popular in the first epistle of John.

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    Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

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    And the world passeth away and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. We could tie that back to Genesis 3. We won't. You probably already have. The key is at the end. Everything this world has to offer is fleeting. It is temporary. It only looks big because it's easier to see than the love of the Father.

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    But the permanent dwelling with God is what's on the other side. if we can figure this piece out. That we would do the will, show the love, and abide with the Father forever. Little children, it is the last time, and you have heard that Antichrist shall come, and now are there many Antichrists whereby you know that it is the last time.

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    That's the intimate word again. Now, we've probably all done the word study on Antichrist, so we'll do very briefly when we get to chapter 4. But the key to this, really, is this concept has been in the ecclesial setting since the first century. Jesus said it this way, For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and deceive many.

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    But their actions are Antichrist or against Christ. We know it's a small topic in Scripture that has been made by the churches much bigger. It's only used five times in the whole Bible, all of them in the epistles of John, so we'll look at them this week. And it's only in four verses because two of them are right here.

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    Alright, we'll dwell on that a little bit more in chapter 4. They, so this movement against living a life in Christ, went out from us, but they were not of us. If they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us. But they went out that they might be manifest that they were not all of us.

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    This is a reminder that this problem came from within the ecclesia. It refers to people in that time and that setting that were once in fellowship but had lost their first love using John's words in Revelation. The point John's making is had they been true brethren and sisters, they never would have left.

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    The fact that they gave up and left follows that concept of not all Israel is above Israel. being a Christadelphian alone does not make us special. For us to actually be special, we must live as Christ's brethren and let our love be evident in the things that we know and do. This comes to the concept that Jesus said many are called and few are chosen.

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    And it's an important question to ask ourselves from time to time. We're numbered amongst the called. What are we doing now to be numbered amongst the chosen? Many are called, few are chosen. The life we live, the love we demonstrate, the way we interact is an opportunity for us to demonstrate that we should be chosen to teach the world how to love.

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    verse 20. For we have an unction of the Holy One and you know all things. I have not written unto you because you know not the truth but because you know it and that no lie is of the truth. So the unction, another word we use all the time, only two of them in the New Testament, they're both in this chapter in verse 27.

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    So all three of them, this one here and two in verse 27. Where it's translated anointing. The anointing from the Holy One. And the word holy here is an adjective. It's not a noun. It's describing Jesus. The anointing from Jesus. The RSV ends with the phrase and you all know. Not that you know all things.

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    That you all know. And all the knows here in verse 20 and 21 are the perceived word. This is not the intimate knowledge word. That you perceive all things. I've not written to you because you do not perceive the truth but because you perceive it. John wrote to those that did understand. It was a requirement for them to accept his exhortation.

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    If you understand and perceive then you've got to take this material and move forward. Paul said it this way in 1 Corinthians 15. Moreover brethren I declare unto you the gospel that I preached unto you which also you have received wherein you stand. By which also are you saved if you keep in memory what I preached unto you unless you have believed in vain.

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    For our perceived belief to be valued and evolved into an intimate knowledge. It's all about the life that we choose. Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ. He is the Antichrist that denieth the Father and Son. Whoso denieth the Son the same hath not the Father. So he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.

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    So liar we've talked about a number of times it refers to the core of the truth. But it adds a detail to the Antichrist definition. This is denying the relationship between the Father and the Son. Not the existence of the Father and the Son but the intimate relationship that the Father and Son shared.

95. 36:59

    The prayer of John 17 is recorded so you and I can see how the Father and the Son were connected as a model because part of that prayer is that you and I would be connected to each other the way that the Father and the Son were connected. And the best part of that is if we can figure that out in some small measure we're invited to abide in their love connected forever.

96. 37:30

    Verse 24 Let that therefore abide in you that you have heard from the beginning. If that which you heard from the beginning shall remain in you you shall also continue in the Son and in the Father. The word abide and dwell and abide and remain that's all the same word in this verse.

97. 37:54

    It's used three times in this verse. The emphasis will come later. We'll talk about this more in the next couple days. But it's starting to grow now. For this moment just hold that thought. abiding with the Father and Son forever.

98. 38:16

    Verse 25 And this is the promise that He hath promised unto you even eternal life. These things I have written unto you concerning them that seduce or the RSV says that deceive you. But the anointing which you have received of Him abideth in you. And you need not that any man teach you but the same anointing teacheth you of all things.

99. 38:41

    And His truth is no lie. And even as it is taught you you shall abide in Him. The constant barrage of abide tells us where we need to dwell. It's an Old Testament theme for sure and we'll expound on it more in the next couple days. But this abiding or dwelling together in the love of the Father fellowshipping with the Father and the Son for eternity is the pinnacle of what He is trying to say.

100. 39:08

     There is no need for fleshly philosophy. All we have to do is learn the love and live the love. That's what the exhortation is. The biggest danger to the truth today everywhere in the world is fleshly thinking. This is what I think. This is what I feel. And if you ever hear those phrases come up even out of your own mouth at a Bible study halt because if you think and feel you've already lost touch with the foundation.

101. 39:41

     It's not about what we think and feel. What we think and feel is naturally inclined to be wrong because we're all flesh. We have to make sure the foundation stays what is in the Word by reading, studying, and talking to each other about what we are reading and studying. To preserve the truth in these last days, we must remain a people of the Word that we come together building on the foundation of what we read yesterday and what we're studying tomorrow so that we can sharpen each other in love to be more like the Son emulating the Father that we might dwell with them together.

102. 40:24

     I'd like to look at James 3 for just a minute. Get an alternative perspective from another very respected brother. James 3, verse 13. Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness and wisdom. But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not and lie not against the truth.

103. 40:50

     Can we see the alignment between these two brethren and the message they are delivering? Though there are decades between the pen dates of these letters. The wisdom descendeth, this wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, it's sensual, it's devilish, it's coming from within the lust in our members. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.

104. 41:15

     Anyone having that God is not the author of confusion verse in their head right now? But, so if we avoid our natural inclination, here's the big but. The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruit, without partiality, without hypocrisy. Boy, how many people have said, boy, Dennis is easy to be entreated.

105. 41:43

     He's never been hypocritical in his life. I know, they only think of me that way. But that's really what's being said. Are we easy to be entreated? Are we easy to see love and mercy in our conversation? When people see us, do they go, I don't see a whole lot of hypocrisy there.

106. 42:01

     That's a very, very powerful question. But it ends with this, because all of us are going to go, well, maybe we don't have that perfect, but here is something we can all strive to do that we might be perfected. The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. It's okay to disagree as long as peace and love are present.

107. 42:28

     God's will shall prevail. It's a matter of keeping the peace and the love of the Father that we might dwell together with the Father and the Son. And so as we get towards the end of this chapter, He brings that little children word in again.

108. 42:46

     Abide. Dwell in Him. That, when He shall appear, we may have confidence in not being ashamed before Him. It is coming. If we are constantly abiding in Christ, we will be ready at His return. That word ashamed, by the way, something that we all have that feeling when we look at our own life and we think of our own sin and we are ashamed of the mistakes and bad decisions we have made.

109. 43:17

     You know that word ashamed in the Greek is not a common word. Even though it might be a common thing in our mind, it's a word that's only used five times. Oh, that number of grace keeps coming back, doesn't it? Only five times in the New Testament. If that shame keeps us in that spot, we have nowhere to grow.

110. 43:35

     But if that momentary shame in our poor decision turns us back to the Father and we leave shame and move towards confidence, we are growing. That's the concept of grace. Jesus said it this way, Not everyone that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of My Father, which is in heaven.

111. 43:57

     The doing is the difference. Many shall say unto Me in that day, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name and cast out devils and done many wonderful works? And then I will profess unto them, I know You not. I never knew You. Depart from Me, ye that work iniquity. That's what's at stake.

112. 44:19

     It starts with knowledge and that was the concept from yesterday and that's important. But that knowledge must build in love for us to abide with the Father and Son. So we close the chapter with the 29th verse which says, if you know, and this is where those two words are different, I'll say them as they are in the Greek, if you perceive that He is righteous, you will intimately know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born of Him.

113. 44:49

     Let us segue into the Bible, that God