Thanks be to the Lord for another opportunity to post the Weekend Sermon. Thank you for taking the time to read the sermon this week. I hope that everyone is having a very good day.
I've been doing a lot of writing work this week. I've been feeling pretty good, and I thank the Lord for His help through each day.
As you go to prayer this week, please continue to pray for all of those dealing with flood and storm damage in the United States. The people of Mozambique also need our prayers as they are still recovering from storms as well.
Please continue to pray for the people in Congo and Uganda who are suffering from the Ebola virus. Pray that this outbreak will quickly end.
We need to continue to pray for peace in the troubled areas of the world. Keep praying that there will not be an outbreak of conflict between the US and Iran. Pray for peace in Syria, Afghanistan, Yemen, Libya, South Sudan and Somalia.
For our prayer focus countries this week, let us pray for those who live in the nations of Bhutan and Tunisia. Pray that many will come to know the love of the Lord Jesus.
Over the course of the last few weeks, we have been in a series of messages about false teachings that were confronted in the early church. We have seen that Jesus, Paul and Peter had to confront those who were teaching doctrines that were not correct.
In today's message, we will see that the Apostle John also had to deal with false teachings in the churches that he was responsible for. John had to deal with the teaching that Jesus had not come in the flesh. We can see what John has to say about this in II John 7 which states, "For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist."
In John's day, there was a strain of thought that equated anything that had to do with the flesh as being evil. The spirit was good and the flesh was evil. Some believed that the body was a hindrance to the spirit. The body with its evilness was keeping the spirit from being liberated and achieving union with God.
Those who believed in this type of thinking couldn't countenance the idea that Jesus could have actually had a human body. They believed that human flesh would have contaminated the divine nature of Jesus. They believed that Jesus only appeared to have a body. They believed that He was actually a pure spirit.
Of course, by believing in this, those who taught this doctrine would have denied the death of Jesus on the cross. Since Jesus had no earthly body, He could not have risen bodily from the dead. As we can see, this idea that Jesus did not come in the flesh would have had great consequences for orthodox Christian doctrine.
John tells us that this type of belief is a deception. John walked and talked with Jesus while Jesus was on earth. The Bible gives us examples of Jesus doing things in a physical way. We know that Jesus became tired and had to rest. Jesus became hungry and had to eat. Jesus touched people and made them well. There is no indication in the entirety of the New Testament that Jesus did not have a physical body.
This idea of Jesus being a spirit and not having a true physical body would plague the church for many years. The Gnostics held beliefs that were similar to this.
The whole idea that the body is bad and only the spirit is good is wrong in and of itself. God created humans, and He declared His creation to be good. The Bible is quite clear about the idea of a bodily resurrection from the dead. The Scriptures tell us in I Corinthians 15:35-58 that we will receive a glorified body like unto the glorified body of Christ at the resurrection of the dead when Jesus returns in power and great glory. Humanity is fallen away from the Lord, but the flesh is not evil. God will restore all that He has made to its original state when Jesus comes again.
You will always find one thing that is in common with all teaching that departs from the orthodox Christian faith. You have to look at what they believe about Jesus. All false teaching that I have ever studied or come across has an incorrect view of who Jesus is.
Some will deny the true humanity of Jesus, and some will deny the true divinity of Jesus. Some will deny the atoning death of Jesus on the cross, and some will deny the bodily resurrection of Jesus from the dead. You can examine what any teacher or group believes about the person and work of Jesus Christ, and you will know right away if they are a group is teaching false or true doctrine.
The Bible is clear that Jesus is the Second Person of the Holy Trinity who was born of the virgin Mary. He took upon Himself human form. He lived a holy and sinless life as our perfect example. He was the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world. Jesus bore our sins in His body on the cross. He died and was buried. On the third day, He rose bodily from the grave conquering death, hell and the grave. He will come again and restore all things. When Jesus returns every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
Next week, we will continue with our current series. I have a couple of more messages in this series. Lord willing, I will post the sermon on Saturday next week. I will post the verses on Monday. I do have a book review that I will post on Wednesday. May God bless you all. Amen.
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