Who wants on this band wagon?

I don't normally consider myself to be a cynical person, but I seem to be right now. For whatever reason I just have some doubts that crowd my mind as I wait to see the next big thing sweep through evangelical churches. I can already see that sermon series will be focused around this event, and special nights will be created. Christians all across north and digging into their wallets and getting ready to purchase their ticket for the next big movie spectacle. Yes I am talking about Courageous.

Now please wait a minute and here what I am saying, instead of what I am not saying. I look forward to the opportunity to see Courageous. I think it looks like a good movie and it probably has a good point to make. I am all for it. What this has brought to my attention is the fact that many have probably forgotten the last movie Fireproof... Or the ones before that. When Fireproof came out there was a lot of hype over it. It was almost impossible to set foot in any church and not be overwhelmed with that movie or listening to a sermon series about it. I am sure that it will be the same way with Courageous.

Before we all get caught up in this hype maybe we should go back and re-visit whatever commitments we made during the "Fireproof" phase... How about it? Did you sign up for "the love dare"? Let me ask you how your marriage is going. Are you still dating your wife, showing her kindness and affection, sacrificing for her? If Courageous is as good as Fireproof, the reality is that being a good father comes back to the heart of God and the death/resurrection of Jesus Christ.

So as we all go out and watch Courageous and go to church let me encourage all the men out there to keep your heads on straight and not just be a band wagon Christian. RENEW whatever commitments you made before, and STICK with whatever new ones will inevitably be made this time.

180 The Documentary. A MUST SEE!

When talking about difficult issues, it can be extremely difficult to change someone's opinions or perspectives.  Usually you must reach somewhere or something close to home in order for someone to see things from a different light.  This documentary does just that.  Have a look.

Better to never have been born...

A controversial subject in our post-modern, post-Christian culture today.  Steven Lawson is a premier preacher and teacher in reformed circles, and delivers a powerful punch delivered straight from the gospel of Matthew.  Thanks to Steven Lawson for this teaching and to Illbehonest.com

Join us at Hill Country Church tomorrow morning for service.  Dr. Frankie Rainey will be preaching from the Gospel of John.  Coffee and fellowship at 10:00, message begins at 10:35am.  Come and join us.  Spray Lakes Sawmills Family Recreation Centre, Multi-purpose room.

The Deity of Christ (part II)

John 1:1-5

In the beginning was bthe Word, and cthe Word was with God, and dthe Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 eAll things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 fIn him was life,1 and gthe life was the light of men. 5 hThe light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Verse 2:  The Greek language didn't have an exclamation mark to indicate an emphasis, so the linguistic tool used to accomplish this is repetition.  Here John repeats that the Word was in the beginning with God.  There was not a time that the Word did not exist.

Verse 3: All things were made through Him.  All is a word that can be universal, and in this context it is clear that John means it universally.  All things were created through Him.  When we look at Genesis chapters 1-2 we can see that Jesus is the creator of everything, and that there wasn't anything (another universal) made before He started making it.  This would include himself.  There are some heretical teachings today that teach different doctrine than this and I would like to take the opportunity to show the teachings of two major heretical groups here in Cochrane and demonstrate the importance of separating orthodox Christianity from those teachings.  

Arius was a preacher from Alexandria in Egypt in the third century.  He taught that Christ was the first created being, and that through Him everything else was made.  He was a very charismatic (popular, great orator) who was teaching his local congregation this understanding of who Christ was.  He was opposed by Alexander, the Bishop of Alexandria, and by Athanasius, a deacon in the local church.  Arius was denying the Trinitarian understanding of the nature of God.  The modern day group that holds to this teaching is the Jehovah's Witnesses.  They teach that Jesus was created by God the Father, they vehemently deny the Trinity, and hold to Arian teachings.  Constantine, called for the First Council of Nicaea to settle this dispute (among some other minor issues), and as described by church historian Justo Gonzalez in his book The Story of Christianity when the council finally heard in person the teachings of Arius, they ripped the teachings in pieces and stomped on them.  Clearly they weren't in favour of the teachings.  They called Arius to repent of his teachings, and when he did not, he was excommunicated from the church.  Clearly this is a serious issue.

The second group we'll look at is the Mormon tradition.  The Latter Day Saints teach that men can be gods.  In the Teachings of Joseph Smith page 349 Joseph states "God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man...".  In Doctrine and Covenants 130:22 it states "The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's; the Son also...".  They teach that Jesus was a brother of Satan, a fallen angel.        In the Discourses of Brigham Young, on Pg.53-54 he lets it be known that Lucifer is the second son, the one known as "Son of the Morning."

·         "Who will redeem the earth, who will go forth and make the sacrifice for the earth and all things it contains?" The Eldest Son said: "Here am I"; and then he added, "Send me." But the second one, which was "Lucifer, Son of the Morning," said, "Lord, here am I, send me, I will redeem every son and daughter of Adam and Eve that lives on the earth, or that ever goes on the earth."

g    Mormon's believe that through good works they too will be crowned gods of their own universes.  This is clearly not in sync with the teachings of Jesus Christ in the Bible, nor the teachings of the apostles.  

     Muslims believe that Jesus was a prophet, and that the scriptures are wrong about Christ.  They do not believe that He died on the cross, but only appeared to die.  He was not the redeemer for humanity.

Verse 4:  And in Him was life.  Christ had self existence.  John 5:26 states "For as the Father has life in himself, zso he has granted the Son also to have life in himself."  Only deity can grant life, and as we see throughout scripture Jesus refers to Himself as THE life.  John 11:25 states "Jesus said to her, j“I am the resurrection and kthe life.1 Whoever believes in me, lthough he die, myet shall he live,"  Christ, being God, has the power to grant life, and sustain life.  Acts 17:25 says "nor is he served by human hands, uas though he needed anything, since he himself vgives to all mankindwlife and breath and everything."  There is a very bad misconception out there that God created everything and humanity because He was lonely and needed someone to love.  This is categorically false.  God had no need of anything, but created everything out of a great love.  He had everything in His own nature.  There was perfect harmony (and still is) in the triune nature of God.  The Father was with the Son.  They were with the Holy Spirit.  We bring nothing to the table as far as God needs, but we are invited to worship Him in His glory and for our good.  Christianity is not man-centered, but God-centered.  When we make much of ourselves, we are missing the point.  God is the point, and when we make much of Him, we have abundance of joy.  He is our life, and He sustains us in everything.  

And the life was the light of men.  John 8:12 helps us with this verse when it says "Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, m“I am the light of the world. Whoever nfollows me will not owalk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”  Christ was the light for men to follow in their darkness.  When you shine a light in a dark room, you can see.  Sometimes you can only see dimly, but you can see.  Jesus is the light to rescue man from outer darkness, a condition which he himself, in his own power, cannot do.  It requires the supernatural actions of a loving God to shine the light on our situation.  John 9:5 states "As long as I am in the world, jI am the light of the world.”  Jesus, when He came in person, was the light in presence, so that all those in Israel could see.  Paul reminds us in Romans that God's attributes are clearly seen in creation, so that we have no excuse for not seeing Him.  We have also been sent the Holy Spirit, and we as a church become the light to the lost world.  We have a job to do. John 12:46 help us further by saying "I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness."  Those that come to the light will not remain in darkness.  We will see some things clearly for the first time.  We can see our sin nature.  We can see our condition compared to that of God.  We can see our peril without Him, which makes us cling ever closer to Him.

Verse 5: The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

I personally prefer the term "comprehend" in place of "overcome", but either term would work theologically.  Jesus defeated darkness by going to the cross.  Jesus battled the same things we battle when it comes to sin; vis. the flesh, the world and the devil.  Jesus was able to defeat all of them, even though tempted in every way that we are.  Jesus died on the cross and defeated death.  His creatures, make in His image, now have a way to become friends of God again, and it was through the person and work of Jesus Christ.  If we translate the verse to say "comprehend", we have a biblical case of total depravity.  We, in our fallen state, are incapable of morally choosing to follow God.  We see the light, we see His creation, but we deny Him at every turn.  We think the gospel as foolish.  We do all we can to live according to our own lusts and sinful desires.  Even when we find "religion", we insult God by our works as a means of earning our salvation instead of resting in Him.  We need the Holy Spirit to indwell in us before we can love Him for who he is and what He has done for us.  John 3:19-20 says "And this is the judgment: qthe light has come into the world, and rpeople loved the darkness rather than the light because stheir works were evil. 20 tFor everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, ulest his works should be exposed."  Our natural inclination is to run from the light for fear of being exposed.  We are all evil and wicked, something that in our natural state we refuse to acknowledge.  We want to compare ourselves with those around us, thinking highly of ourselves when in reality, we are only compared to God's standards, of which we fall horribly short.  On the day of judgement, we will be exposed, and without Christ, we will be damned, with no one to blame but ourselves.

o   Why is this truth so important? (Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology)

§  Only someone who is infinite God could bear the full penalty for all the sins of all those who would believe in him – any finite creature would have been incapable of bearing that penalty

§  Salvation is from the Lord (Jonah 2:9) and the whole message of scripture is designed to show that no human being, no creature, could ever save man – only God himself could

§  Only someone who is truly and fully God could be the one mediator between God and man (1 Tim. 2:5), both to bring us back to God and also to reveal God most fully to us (John 14:9).

Conclusion

Truth is vital to our faith.  We must get Jesus right, for He is the centerpiece, the cornerstone of our faith.  If we get Him wrong, we’re lost.  The early church fought for truth, and we must continue the fight for truth, the fight for Christ now and as long as we have breath.  To take a stand is not popular, it divides, it is contentious, but isn’t our God worth it?  Fight for Him, for He fought for you, for His glory.

The Deity of Christ (part 1) John 1:1-5

Highlights from Hill Country Sermon given September 18th, 2011 at Spray Lakes Sawmills Recreation Centre. (Part 1)

John was one of the 12 disciples, and was one of Jesus' inner 3, along with Peter and James.  He was "the one whom Jesus loved (John 13:23), and was privy to much of Jesus' teachings, including intimate conversations and the life and work of Christ.  John has been attributed to writing the Gospel of John, the three epistles (1,2,3 John) and Revelation.  Most scholars place the writing of the Gospel of John somewhere between 70-90 A.D.  According to many in the church, John may have died in exile on the isle of Patmos, or possibly in Ephesus after his exile.  According to John 20:31 which states "but these are written so that you may xbelieve that Jesus is the Christ, ythe Son of God, and that by believing zyou may have life ain his name."  John wanted the readers to understand who Jesus was, and that by believing you would have everlasting life.


The Gospel of John is very different from the synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke.  Unlike the short, pithy teachings that show up in the synoptics, John carries on long conversations which allows us to get a much better understanding of some of the issues facing Jesus and His understanding of theology. He uses many sharp contrasts such as light vs. dark; love vs. hatred; above vs. below; life vs. death; and truth vs. falsehood.  It is in John's gospel where Jesus uses the "I AM" statements which help us understand clearly who Jesus claimed He was.  John also spends much time highlighting our sin and depravity.  John is also the only one that uses a prologue in which he sets up the rest of Jesus' ministry.


John's gospel has 5 sections.  The first 18 verses are the prologue, and we will be taking 3 Sunday's to work through that heavy section of scripture.  John then uses the next 12 chapters to describe in great detail Jesus' public ministry.  John covers Jesus' Passion Week with 7 chapters, followed by the resurrection (1 chapter), and finally the epilogue (Chapter 21).  This book will take us a couple of years to work through, and I look forward to the journey with you.


We begin in verse 1 that states "In the beginning was bthe Word, and cthe Word was with God, and dthe Word was God."  We can see immediately the use of "In the beginning".  This would jump out at anyone that was familiar with the scriptures (what we would now call the Old Testament).  The first line in the bible from Genesis begins with "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."  So John is taking us all the way back to the beginning in order to establish something.  What was he trying to get across?  If we look at verse 26 of Genesis it states "Then God said, o“Let us make man1 in our image, pafter our likeness. And qlet them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”  It's interesting that although we see throughout scripture that God is One, we see God using the plural form "our", "us" when describing himself.  This becomes important as we work our way through the rest of today's scripture.  1 John 1:1 also says "That which was bfrom the beginning, cwhich we have heard, dwhich we have seen with our eyes,ewhich we looked upon and fhave touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—" John is making his case for the identity of Christ right off the hop.  Again in Revelation 1:8 he states "I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, y“who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” referring of course to Christ.  
When John moves on to "was the Word", he was clearly referring to Jesus, as we can see from verse 14 (along with those scriptures just mentioned).  Revelation 19:13 says "He is clothed in qa robe dipped in1 blood, and the name by which he is called is rThe Word of God."  This again is referring to Christ and His crucifixion, and is specifically referred to as the Word of God.  So we can already clearly see that Jesus was and is and always will be, but just to make the point even more plain, John leaves no question as he moves forward.  
The Word was with God, which John here is distinguishing between the Father and the Son.  In order to be with someone or something, you must have an identity separate from it in some capacity.  This is the case here.  Jesus is distinct from the Father, but still One with him.  1 John 1:2 states "the life hwas made manifest, and we have seen it, and itestify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life,awhich was with the Father and hwas made manifest to us—" Jesus was with God in the beginning.  John 17:5 states "And now, Father, aglorify me in your own presence with the glory bthat I had with you cbefore the world existed." Jesus identifies that He was with the Father before the world existed.  As we have seen from Genesis, God, referring to Himself as "us" began creating.
And the Word was God.  This statement makes clear that the triune nature of God is real, and that Jesus is One with the Father before the creation of anything.  Jesus is distinct from the Father, but still of the same substance.  Philippians 2:5-7 states "Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,1 6 pwho, though he was in qthe form of God, did not count equality with God ra thing to be grasped, 7 but semptied himself, by taking the form of atservant,2 ubeing born in the likeness of men."  Some would have you believe that this particular scripture backs up the idea that Jesus was NOT God, but in fact in the context Paul was getting across the fact that Jesus didn't have to grasp or work in some capacity to be God, because He already was!  John later on in his gospel in 10:30 says "I and the Father are one.”  This leads into Jesus use of the "I AM" statements.  We can see from Exodus 3:14 when Moses asks God "who shall I tell them (the Israelites) sent me.  What was the answer?  God said to Moses, “I am who I am.”1 And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, r‘I am has sent me to you.’”  God's name is "I AM".  So Jesus comes along and says in John 8:58 "Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, aI am.”  What happened after that?  The scribes and Pharisees picked up stones to kill Him for blasphemy!  They understood perfectly well what Jesus called Himself, and they were going to take Him out because of it.  There was no doubt about what Christ's identity was to John and he used his gospel to make sure we understand who Christ is.
Jesus had seven declarations which He used to identify or describe Himself, all of them pertaining to His godly attributes.  They were:    

·         The bread of life (6:35, 48, 51)

·         Light of the world (8:12, 9:5)

·         The door for the sheep (10:7, 9)

·         The good shepherd (10:11, 14)

·         The resurrection (11:25)

·         The way, truth, life (14:6)

·         The true vine (15:1, 5)

After Christ's resurrection, Thomas refused to believe that Jesus was alive.  When Jesus told him to touch his wounds, Thomas hit his knees and declared "My Lord and my God!"  Did Jesus chastise him for this?  Absolutely not!  Jesus was God incarnate, and He identified Himself as such.

Col. 2:9 states "For in Him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily."  How can Jesus be the fullness of God, yet a created being as some would have you believe?

Canadians and our Culture

I was attending the CSBS's Spiritual Week session today whereby I heard some pretty good information on sharing our testimony which can lead to sharing the Gospel.  As an evangelical, I believe it to be of the utmost importance to share the Gospel with the lost.  While I may not agree with everything CP (the speaker) said, he has a serious passion for people, and wants desperately for lost people to come to know our Lord.  I cannot blame him for that, and I felt convicted in my own walk and was paying close attention to some of the ideas he presented.  One of the vital aspects of witnessing to people is to know the culture you're in.  While I believe strongly that it is the Gospel message that saves, regardless of culture, I think we can and should look at our surroundings and those in it to understand simple rules and expectations so as to not be caught off guard or insult those we're trying to witness to.  Interesting.
After that, I went for coffee with a friend of mine who is not from Canada.  He had some not-so-nice things to say about Canadians and our culture, which upon reflection, I agree with him.  He said "Canadians are first and foremost a passive-aggressive culture."  Now I don't want to keep any more quotations on my friend's opinions due to my ability to misquote or maybe I missed a nuance or something, but it was clear that my friend is not enamoured with this particular aspect of our national makeup.  Essentially, he claimed we as a nation aren't "straight-shooters".  We are the type of people who will say something supportive and friendly, stab you in the back, and then help stitch you back up...all the while having a smile on our faces.  We are not like Americans who will "tell-it-like-it-is".  We're not openly aggressive, but very subversive in our extreme aggression.  We smile in your face, then hammer you behind your back, never taking responsibility for the very attack, unless caught.  Then we beg for forgiveness.  The church in this nation should be called "Bertuzzi Church".
Ouch.
I have lived in this country my entire life, and come from a family (both close and extended) that are very passive-aggressive in nature.  I used to be a person who would do exactly what my friend described above (much to my shame).  I know of many people that act exactly in this matter (much to their shame).  We are often brave when it comes to social media, or any other type of conflict except the face-to-face kind.  It's there where we smile and pretend all is well.
So how do you share the gospel in a nation of passive-aggressive?  For us at Hill Country Church, we will preach the gospel message.  We will love those that come into our realm of influence.  We will be a light in a dark world, and we will rest in Him, not rest in the let-downs of humanity.  Jesus is the way, and the truth, and the light (John 14:6), and our expectations will be that people will be people, until the Lord changes them from the inside.

Join us this Sunday as we begin our series on the Gospel of John.  Coffee at 10:00, message begins at 10:30, Spray Lakes Sawmills Rec. Centre, Cochrane, AB.

The Importance of Truth (2 John 1-6)

(The following is a general outline of the sermon "The Importance of Truth" delivered to the congregation of Hill  Country Church on Sept. 4th, 2011).

2 John 1-6

The elder to the elect lady and her children, bwhom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all who cknow dthe truth,2 ebecause of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever:

3 fGrace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father's Son, in truth and love.

Walking in Truth and Love

4 gI rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father. 5 And now I ask you, dear lady—hnot as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning—ithat we love one another. 6 And jthis is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, justkas you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it.

Humanity has in inherent yearning to know the truth.  We watch TV shows about the search for truth and justice, we watch movies with the same theme, and we love it when the truth comes out.  When I say "I want the truth!" followed by "YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!" everyone here knows what I'm referring to.  And we love it!  Searching for the truth is not a new thing.  We can even see from ancient history that truth was something that perplexed many.  We can read in John 18:36-38 "Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world.  If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews.  But my kingdom is not from the world,"  Then Pilate said to him, "So you are a king?"  Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king.  For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world - to bear witness to the truth.  Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice."  Pilate said to him, "What is truth?"

After he had said this, mhe went back outside to the Jews and told them, n“I find no guilt in him.

Pilate, even though the very person of truth was in front of him, couldn't see what the truth was.  Many today still treat truth much the same, as something that cannot be found.  Socrates, the first great philosopher, had 4 pillars of truth, beginning with "truth is not knowable by mortals, but to the gods only."  This philosophy is still held by many today.  What is unfortunate is that because logic isn't taught in school anymore, most don't find the logical fallacy to the statement.  It's self-defeating.  If truth cannot be known by mortals, then the very statement, if true, cannot be true.  Do you follow?  Many people find the search for truth to be a noble thing, something every sophisticated person should endeavor to do, but you may not actually claim to FIND or KNOW the truth, for that is arrogant!  So, let me get this straight.  It's noble to search for something that you will never find?  Let me take that logic to something that I like to do.  I hunt.  If I were to tell you that I was going hunting, and with a very serious face told you I was going hunting for unicorn, you would laugh; until that point where you realize I'm not kidding.  Then you would be puzzled, then you would just think I were insane, and rightly so.  How is this any different that searching for truth that in their mind is not capable of being found?  I'd rather not waste my time than be involved in vain pursuits like that.  But truth is thought to be such a noble thing that we will search for it, even if we don't think we can find it.

We have in our society two types of truth.  We have worldly truth, and biblical truth.  Worldly truth tells us that "what is true for you is true for you, and what is true for me is true for me, even if my truth contradicts your truth."  I had a very dear friend once who fell away from his Roman Catholic faith that very statement.  Our society, in all our brilliance, has educated us to new levels of stupidity.  Our civilized society today tells us that truth is simply relative.  Every opinion is equally relevant and valued, every religion is equally relevant and valid, and that the world would be a much better place if we could set aside our differences of opinion and just have lovely conversations where we can talk about how smart we all are.  Then you have biblical truth.  The bible uses the word truth (sometimes translated also as faithfulness) some 235 times.  We can double that amount if we include words such as truly, trust, trusted and so forth.  The bible clearly states the importance of truth, and that the truth is knowable.  In fact, the truth IS; it doesn't matter in the slightest whether you believe it or not.  Truth is not an opinion, truth is not relative, truth just is.

In order to understand 2 John, we need to understand 1 John, as this was a short letter of encouragement and instruction as a reminder to the first letter John sent the church in Ephesus.  Scholars agree that the church was under threat from within from the heretical teaching of Docetism.  

Verse 1-2:

·         Truth mentioned three times in one sentence.  Obviously this is a major theme for John, and wants the point to strike home with the church here.

·         Truth begets love (agapao) meaning in a social sense.  We should have a deep-seeded love for those that we call brothers and sisters of the faith.  When we find those that claim to be Christians, yet fall outside of the truth of orthodoxy, our love for them goes from that deep-seeded love to a love of the image of God, one which compels us to tell them the truth.  There is a world of difference.  Truth begets the Love of God.

·         Truth begets unity – ALL who know the truth.  John includes all true believers in the faith as having love with the church in Ephesus.  From time immemorial until the return of Christ, we will have an eternity to love Him and love and learn about our brothers and sisters in the faith from ages past to the future.  There is a unity among us that cannot be broken, and although we have secondary issues that separate us physically as parts of the body, we still recognize that we are unified in Him, and respect our secondary differences.

·         Truth begets understanding – something that has knowledge.  You cannot know love unless you have an understanding of God's Word.  This is why His word is so important.  You cannot be abiding in Him yet have no clue about who He is and what He has done for us in creation and the cross.  Study of His word, preaching of His word is essential to have an understanding love.  Those that don't understand the gospel cannot understand Him.  Those that don't have Him, don't have the Father.

·         Why?  Truth abides IN us.  Who abides in us?  God, via the Holy Spirit.

·         Truth will be with us forever (perseverance of the Saints).  You can rest assured that if you are in Christ today, you will be in Christ tomorrow, not because of your steadfast ability to hold on to Him, but because of His strength to hold on to you.

Verse 3:

In love and truth comes grace, mercy and peace.  These three things are not possible without the truth.  When we understand what Christ has done for us, we can manifestly see grace in our lives, we can see the mercy, the perfect mercy and grace He has given us, and with that comes a peace you cannot know outside of Him.  John 17:17 states "Sanctify them in truth.  Your word is truth."  If we look at the first part of the text, we can see that sanctification comes from knowing and understanding the word of God as truth.  Sanctification is the growth of a Christian, becoming more like Christ.  When we work towards our gradual sanctification, we are more able to give mercy, give grace, and encourage peace with others around us, because we have a more mature understanding of His grace, mercy and peace to us.

The second half of verse 17 speaks that God's word is truth.  2 Timothy 3:16-17 states "All scripture is God breathed, and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work."  2 Peter 3:15-16 states: "And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters.  There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction."  So the bible, in its entirety, is God's word.  So the question is, What do we do with difficult scriptures like Malachi 1:2-4?  Romans 9:13-17?  Proverbs 6:16-19?  How do we balance those texts with John 3:16?  We in the evangelical church over the years love to preach the easy verses like John 3:16, but we shy away from those other ones.  If they are the word of God, why do we shy away?

Have you ever heard the expression "God loves the sinner, but hates the sin."?  Dr. John Gerstner wrote a brief about that exact misconception, a part of which I will quote.  He states, "God is perfectly displeased with the sinner.  The sinner hates God, disobeys God, is ungrateful to God for all His favours; would kill God if he could.  He is dead in his trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1), the thoughts and intents of his heart are only evil continually (Gen. 6:5), he is the slave of sin (John 8:34), the servant of the devil (Eph. 2:2).  God has no complacent love for the sinner at all, he has a perfect hatred of him.  "I hate them with a perfect hatred." (Psalms 139:22).  Maybe we can breathe a little easier with John 8:31-32 "So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in Him, 'If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."  We will be set free from sin, and the wrath of God.  His perfect hatred will turn to perfect love, we will be adopted into the family of God, rescued from the family of the devil.

Verse 4-6:

Truth brings rejoicing.  John is rejoicing over those that are keeping the faith, that are walking in truth.  While he is no doubt disappointed with those that have split away from the church, he is rejoicing in those that are left.  There is a lesson here.  As a new church, we cannot be looking sadly at those that aren't coming, we must rejoice in those that God has given us, and that we as a church will feed them and care for them, that we would do as He has commanded us to do, which is love God and love one another.  It has been said that correct orthodoxy (right understanding) leads to correct orthopraxy (correct actions).  Church bodies cannot possibly carry out the commandment to love God and love others if they don't know or understand the truth.  If they know the truth, then walking in faith, as those John is writing to, is attainable.  You can also notice that John refers to the truth they have known, "from the beginning".  We must be careful not to elevate the new and throw out the old.  We tend to do that in our society today.  If it's new, it MUST be good, it MUST be better than the old.  While this may apply to TV's and washing machines, it does not apply to theology.  Ladies and gentlemen, we do NOT need a NEW perspective of Paul.  Paul has been understood just as he has been for the last 2000 years.  If someone comes along and has a brand new revelation on something from the bible, proceed with EXTREME caution.  God's message is the same today as it was 2000 years ago.  

So, what is the truth?  John 14:6 states "I am the way, the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father but by me."  This is the truth.  Luke 24:44-49 states "Then he said to them, "these are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled."  Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.  You are witnesses of these things.  And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you.  But stay in the city until you are clothed with the power from on high."  This is the truth.  1 John 4:1-3 states "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.  By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.  This is the spirit of the antiChrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already."  This is not a popular thing to say today, but if you are not in the truth, you are of the anti-Christ.  Do you see the importance of truth now?  There is no in-between, you are either of God, or you are of the devil.  You either have God's perfect love, or you have God's perfect hatred.  Repent and come to Christ if you have not done so, for the forgiveness of sins, for past, present and future.