What brings joy? Truth

Let's turn, please, in our Bibles to 2 John, please. I trust that what I have upon my mind will follow what we have heard. I suppose I could ask you a question that I would like you to consider as we look at what I have upon my mind.

If someone were to ask you the question, what gives you joy? What is it that just, when you see it, you just rejoice in it? So that's really the theme that's on my mind. 2 John, chapter 1, verse 1. The elder unto the elect lady and her children, notice, whom I love in the truth, but not I only, but also all they that have known the truth, for the truth's sake, which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us forever. Verse 4, I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth.

Go to 3 John, uses the same expression in verse 1. The elder unto the well-beloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth. Verse 2, beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health. There's a reference to the physical.

But look at this, the reference to the spiritual, even as thy soul prosper. Because of this relationship with truth, yes, in Gaius' life there was physical ailments. But his soul was prospering.

That's marvelous. Look at verse number 3. For I rejoiced greatly when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee. Now you have to pause and ask yourself, I'm looking at you, you're looking at me.

How can I tell if there's truth in you? Well, look at the next statement. Even as thou walkest in the truth. That's the only way that you can display or prove what's in your mind, what's in your heart.

It's what your feet are doing. I mean, we only practice what we believe. There's an awful lot of people today trying to tell me, oh no, no, no, I believe that.

But they're not doing it. You only live out what you believe. That's a very simple thing.

This is not psychology 101, but that's just a very elementary thing that we need to get a hold of. And here is John looking, thinking upon this man, hearing the reports of this man. Now notice verse four.

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. No greater joy. So we come back to the question.

What makes you joyful? I'm a father, I have daughters. Someone comes up and says, how are your children doing? What's the first thing I normally go to? The physical. Oh, you know, they've got good jobs.

Oh, they've got a great education. My boy has a PhD. Oh, doesn't that sound great? Oh, they've got a couple of master's degrees.

Oh, yeah. Listen, all that's good and fine. When was the last time you said to someone, my daughter, my son, I believe in truth.

They're living truth from the word of God. Pretty simple, isn't it? I have no greater joy. The environment of truth.

That's why in the epistle of Jude, earnestly contend for the faith, once for all delivered. Now, in order to fight, you have to know what you're fighting for. It's no good.

I was actually in the gym there yesterday, and I watched a man for, I don't know, half an hour. He's just shadowboxing all by himself, all over the place. It looked kind of funny, because there was no one else there.

I have been very exercised over the last couple of years to focus my ministry in on trying to help the young people and the middle-aged people and the older-aged people distinguish doctrine from traditions. I think, brothers and sisters, there's a lot of times we're fighting, and we're arguing and fighting for traditions. Now, there's nothing wrong with traditions that are beneficial, good, helpful.

Like, isn't it beneficial knowing every week what time the meeting starts here on Sunday morning? That's a very constructive thing. There's nothing in the Bible that says, if you don't break bread at 10 o'clock, you're just not an assembly. Oh, my man, I know this place breaks bread at 9.30. There's nothing in the Bible that says that the thermostat on the wall has to be set at a certain temperature.

Oh, my man, that's doctrine. We've had the temperature set at, whatever, I'll tell you, the metric, 20 degrees for the last 30 years, and you want to change it to 21? Going to the dogs. It's all going to the dogs.

Assemblies aren't what they used to be. Oh, my sakes, the brother wears a bow tie instead of a tie. Never seen it like it in my life.

I know those things are comical, but we have to wake up and realize what is important. I want God's assemblies to continue until the day of the rapture. But they will not continue if we don't heed what we've been hearing.

There is a satanic attack. And it's so subtle that we don't even realize that the thin edge of the wedge is starting to come in. And then we start, I've been noticing this recently, the devil is a master at distraction.

Getting the eyes off of doctrine and getting them focused on something else. And we start to think that this is the end all be all. And I'm now greatly rejoicing because someone is just like me.

They're just like me. Their outlook on the Bible is just like me. They see the Bible doctrines just the way I see them.

Instead of coming to the Bible and letting the Bible shape what I'm to think. It's not a preacher telling you how to think. You should be able to take everything I say and come right back to the Bible and say, Now just how did he come to that? And if I go offline, please come to me.

Challenge me. I think we're becoming far too passive. We sit in the audience and we're almost like a bunch of baubles.

Whatever he says, just go. That's it. No.

Brothers and sisters, young, older, search the scripture yourself. So that when an individual stands on the platform in your mind, You're literally tracking his formation of what he's taking from the Bible. That's open to every single Christian.

That is not something that is left to those that are commended to the Lord's work. They become the teachers. Thank God when preachers can teach.

Thank God for that. But you yourself should have a grasp of the word of God, an understanding of truth. Why? So that when something is said, Whoa, that's diverting from truth.

Whoa. Words can be so eloquent, can't they? They can be deceitful too. Very deceptive.

Words can capture the emotions. What a tremendous speaker. Wow.

And maybe sometimes a brother might come up and go through the word of God and defend a duck. You go, oh, kind of dry. Okay.

We apologize for not putting enough into it. We apologize for that. I believe doctrine is exciting.

I think truth is exciting. See, that's why I read in 2nd John and 3rd John. You'll notice the link between truth and love.

And then you'll notice the link between truth and joy. Now we're living in a society where everything's about love. Well, you just got to love everybody.

Tremendous thing. It's almost as if Christianity is like a vacuum cleaner. Love is sucking everything up.

Embrace everybody! Because we all love God, don't we? No, you're going to find in a minute that not everybody is serving the Lord Jesus Christ. They call themselves Christians. Because of their departure from truth.

Now I'd like to ask you a question. Is your joy and your love controlled by truth? God's word. Do you love those that practice the word of God? Do you rejoice in those that adhere to the word of God? You know the sad thing that I'm hearing in many places? Older saints.

From older saints. I'm going to, just in a very general term. A dear sister who doesn't cut her hair.

I am made to feel ridiculed because I'm just trying to honor the word of God. That is wrong. Someone has an exercise to honor what we've just heard.

I am going to have long hair because the word of God teaches it. That's someone I should love and rejoice in. Not make them feel like they're some archaic 1930s relic.

Oh, I know who's not popular today. Dear child of God. When was following the word of God ever popular? Don't sit there and think, oh that was so easy back in the 1930s.

No it wasn't. The devil has been attacking this book. We heard it right from the beginning.

I'm amazed when I go into the book of Genesis and I ask myself this question. What caught the attention of those two individuals in that garden? Was it the fact that they had an entire Bible? They had one commandment from God. That was it.

One commandment. They didn't have the full word of God like we have. One commandment was enough to cause the devil to wake up and focus intently on these two people.

Why? He doesn't even want to see you following one bit of doctrine in this Bible. We get this idea that if we sort of just back off a little bit, let a few things go, the devil will just leave us alone. The devil will never leave me alone until I'm a total disgrace to God.

A total castaway, as Paul would say. So your joy, your love. So, let me ask you a question.

I'm full of questions today. Do you like my personality? Well, you're just sort of too upfront, man. Or do you love me because I love you? That's how it comes down to it.

Aren't we great at cliques? We're great, aren't we? We just like people all around us that are just like me. I want to tell you a story because it's been such an encouragement to me. There's a young man.

He's not married yet. He'd just be like maybe 20, 21. His mother and father used to be in an assembly fellowship.

He wasn't born at the time. He's the only child. I've had the privilege of communicating with him digitally and then in person over the last couple of years, three years, maybe three, three and a half years.

That boy ended up getting saved unbeknownst to me because I never knew him. I never knew him until my daughter, my older daughter married a relative of his. And as a result of a few family things, you get to know him.

And this boy started reading his Bible at home. Now the place where his mother and father now go and cook in, head coverings are optional. Multiple cups.

No seat of the unlearned. Just a traditional denominational church gathering. As he started to read his Bible, things started to bother him.

This is long before I'm talking to him. Long before anyone's talking to him. They used to give him the job of holding on to the tray of whatever, 100 cups.

And he was given the job to walk around to the different rows, just like a person today would be responsible as the one cup is being passed. I don't know what that young boy told me. This is going back a couple years ago.

He says, Scott, I'm carrying that tray. And in my mind, I'm going to 1 Corinthians 10 and 11. The cup which we bless.

This is wrong. This is wrong. But he didn't know what to do.

At the time, he was only in grade 12. Under the dominion of his mother and father's house. Mother and father who used to be in an assembly fellowship.

Following the word of God, dear child, is going to cost. It's not some easy whatever. It's going to cost.

And this man is talking to me, trying to wonder what to do. You know what the end result was? He ended up moving out of home. Moved up into Canada, where I live on Prince Edward Island.

Got a job. Now he's going to college to be a mechanic. He's separated from his mother and father.

He now finds himself in God's assembly. Thrilled. Rejoicing.

He just literally sits at every meeting. And he just has a smile on his face that you couldn't smack off with a hammer. This is great, he said.

A place that practices the word of God. Those of us that have been brought up in it, we kind of go. Are you bored by doctrine? The simple pattern that's taken from the word of God.

There are other young men in that assembly. And he cannot understand why they're arguing with truth in this book. He's just blown out of the water by it.

He says, Scott, I can't understand it. It's right there in the Bible. What is their problem? I said, dear brother, I appreciate your zeal.

Don't turn bitter. Don't even get involved. You just stay focused upon the word of God.

Just stay. Listen. That young man literally thrills my heart.

Not that he's thinking the way Scott McCloud's thinking. Because sometimes Scott McCloud's thinking is not always right. But he's going to the word of God.

And I have watched that man since a year now. That he's coming to the assembly fellowship. Applying himself to the Bible.

Studying it. I have watched that man grow exponentially in his contribution in Bible studies. To the point.

He might end up knowing a little bit more than me. I'm amazed at his mind for the scriptures. I'm amazed at how he can pick up context.

And you know some people that try to teach and they use about 100 words to say what could be said in 10 words. He's got a preciseness with his verbal ability. There's a man that I love.

There's a man that I enjoy. There's a young brother that I want to try to support and help as much as I can. Because he loves truth.

He was willing to count the cost. Mom and dad. Let me tell you how much he counted.

Where his mother and father lived. The closest assembly would be an hour and a half. With a lot of traffic.

You know what he did when he went home on Christmas night? He did not go home Sunday where his mom and dad go. Boy, you talk about passing the blood test. He's not going to let mom and dad sway him.

You know why? Because he's got a hold of truth and truth's got a hold of him. Brothers and sisters, can I remind us all in 2019 that that is a marvelous thing. That's something to rejoice in.

That is someone to actually fall in love with. So I want you to think of that before I leave here. I have no greater joy.

Marvelous. Those of us that try to do any kind of gospel work. I mean, it's marvelous to see people that say, you just rejoice.

You feel humbled that God would use you or try to use you or whatever it might be. And you're just literally overjoyed. You're praying for these.

And then sometimes word comes that they've asked for baptism. Oh, marvelous. There's a joy in that.

Thrilling. And then it's always nice. I was just recently in a place where there was a brother.

Murray and I were at a place for meetings. And the brother didn't get saved, but he got baptized at the time. And then I ended up two years later.

I would have an assembly that was close by for a week of ministry. And I looked up on the Sunday morning. There he was with his wife in an assembly fellowship.

I thought, wow, I didn't even hear he was in an assembly fellowship. There he is. Wow, great.

And then he stood up and he worshiped. Through my heart. Wow.

Brothers and sisters, that's what it's all about. This up here is not the pinnacle of Christianity. Worship privately and corporately.

That's the pinnacle. That's the very reason why God saved us. Is to worship.

Just to tell him a little something about his son. Marvelous. So what gives you joy? Can I talk to parents? Yes.

If your sons or daughters start to turn away from truth that you hold. Will you stand against it? Or are you just going to go with it? It's happening. In a lot of places.

I am sad to report to you at the age of 53. Having been in God's assembly for almost 30 years. I've witnessed men that I have great respect for.

Notice I had great respect for. And to this day they've left an amazing amount of truth. Gone.

You know why? Because their son or daughter comes from them. They didn't say it. Get a hold of how important truth is to God.

You cannot even live a godly life without a doctor. It's vital. And here are these men walking in.

Go quickly to Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2. Just to pick up what my brother said. I am building to a point here. It's taking me a few minutes to get to it.

But sometimes too many things come into your mind. When you're preaching. Someone says, wow, we're getting another full cup.

Yeah, we're going to go for a little while. Yeah, here. You've got to give this new building a good work in, right? Okay, Acts chapter 2. Just going to read these verses.

I'd like your eye to see it. I think this is a very elementary thing that's been overlooked today by many. Acts 2 and verse 41.

Then they that glad received his word were baptized. And the same day there were added unto them about 3,000 souls. Marvelous pattern there.

And then it continues into verse 42. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine. And you've got to keep carrying the verb.

And they continue steadfastly in the fellowship. And they continue steadfastly in the breaking of bread. And they continue steadfastly in the prayers.

Just to get the strength of it. So you've got a tremendous pattern there. Salvation, baptism, assembly reception.

And that assembly reception, the first thing you're taking to is the apostles' doctrine. And from that foundation springs the fellowship. A very unique fellowship.

Now, do you know what's easy? I can allow the social to override doctrine. You've got to admit, in God's assembly, it's like family. We're close, right? Can I ask every single person here that's in a local assembly, are you there only because of the apostles' doctrine? Is that the only reason you're there? Come on, be honest.

When you say mom and dad are there, what if mom and dad left? Would you leave? Well, my brothers and sisters are there. Glad to hear it. What if they left? Would you leave? It's amazing.

Five fingers and toes, I could put 20 up here. I'm able to hold up one finger over the amount of people that left the assembly because of what they perceived as false doctrine. But I don't have enough hair to tell you the amount of people that left God's assembly because of a social folly, a rift, a personal hurt.

Brothers and sisters, can I get us to take a simple principle in Acts chapter 2? There's nothing greater in God's assembly than the apostles' doctrine. Don't allow a personal fault to override it. Don't allow the blood relationship to override it.

I have a good wife. I thank God for her every single day. There was an issue that happened many years ago in our assembly, and a brother and his wife left, a family left.

I went to visit that brother because I knew him well. He's a good, good friend. Still is to this day.

He's still in God's assembly, but there was a lot of problems. And he tried to convince me why he left. It's all because of, well, it wasn't.

I knew some of the issues that were going on. So I ended up coming home, and my wife asked me how it went. I says, Wilma, I'm going to tell you one thing here.

I just want you to know one thing. This is who you marry, okay? If you leave God's assembly, you are leaving it by yourself. You know what she said to me? Same thing goes for you too, buddy.

Right there I said, thank God for a woman at my side that is not willing to, what do we believe, Scott? She's done it for herself. She's done it for herself. That is a woman that I want.

I've told my two daughters, do not stay in the assembly because of me. Do not follow doctrine, truth in the Bible, because your father happens to be a preacher. Because I said, if you go against this Bible, I will condemn you from the platform.

I will not stand next to you and departing from the word of God. Because you didn't die for me. A man called Christ Jesus died for me.

And he lives for me. And he has given me truth to follow. Oh, someone says you're awful hard.

Come back to John. My love has to be controlled by truth. Has to be controlled by truth.

My joy has to be controlled by this Bible. This statement has already been said and I want us to get a hold of it. The Bible will always unite.

Doctrine will always unite. But yet we've got this idea from us in the world that if you don't love and embrace everybody, you're causing division. No, dear child of God.

The Bible. Listen, in 2019, I want our young people, every young person to understand this. I don't know what your teachers are filling your ears with down here.

But I know what they're filling our young people up with in Canada. The garbage. No absolute truth.

There is absolute truth. It's called the word of God. Properly interpreted in its context.

That is absolute authority. My truth is not my perception. That's what we got in this world.

The nonsense of it is beyond logic. This Bible. Listen, we were speaking to a young man here recently.

You know what the Bible would teach? Fear of God is the beginning of knowledge. How many of us fear God today? A good, healthy fear of God. You will never understand the deep truths of this Bible unless you coming in.

Me coming into God's presence. And not thinking he's my buddy. He's my friend.

Thank God he is my friend. And he is my shepherd. Thank God for all of that.

But a proper understanding. I am approaching the creator. The upholder.

The most holy being I will ever come in contact with. That is God. Limped with truth.

So there's the fellowship based on truth. Think of it. So just challenge your mind.

Do we want conferences where we all come together and we just all feel so great? And we go home in this big euphoric bubble of like, oh everything's wonderful. Or do we want to be challenged? Meaning to kind of reflect and go, okay. What am I living for? What really makes me tick? Is it the sports world? Is that where I joy in? Listen, we're not supposed to have our eyes open when we pray.

Sometimes I encourage you to just take a look around. We're in the middle of a meeting. I can't believe it.

Like, is this monster so important that I can't disconnect for one hour? It's one hour. Is he worth it, dear child of God? I'm amazed at where we're moving. Just the subtlety of it.

It's just so easy. And you know something that I've been impressed with? It just amazes me the things that I miss in the Bible. You'd think you're so sharp, but really God has his way of humbling you.

If I had been asked prior to this year, if I had been asked by someone, Scott, where was the first place the tabernacle was set up when they came to the land of Canaan? That's going to show how dumb I am. It was Jerusalem by David. Wrong.

There's a place called Shiloh. I didn't know that. So when I don't know things, I like to study them out.

I don't like that I don't know that. So I started doing a study on the tabernacle. As soon as the children of Israel are coming out of the wilderness and they're going into the land, and there it is, Shiloh.

And there's the tabernacle set up for the first time. Do you know what happens hundreds of years later? God raises up a prophet by the name of Jeremiah. Chapter 7, you read it.

And there's Babylon just breathing down the necks of Israel, just ready to carry them off into captivity. You know what Jeremiah says? You know what God's going to do? He says, do you remember Shiloh? That's where the tabernacle used to be, the presence of God. And he says, because of the sin of the people, God took it from Shiloh.

Remember when the Philistines took the Ark of the Covenant? Had it for seven months, and it never went back to Shiloh. And then he looks at that people who are just about to be carried off into captivity. They don't know it.

And that lovely temple where God's presence was is just about to be burned and reduced to rubble. He says, if you don't repent of your sin, God's going to remove it right from here now. Do you know what the people did? No.

Look at that beautiful building. God would never take it. Never.

Where are the people? Do you think he could lose testimony, Nathan? Try to find me the church at Ephesus that we can read about. Try to find me the church in the city of Cormon that we can read about. You won't find them today.

Do you want to know how easy it is, dear child of God, to lose the privilege of bearing testimony for God in heaven, Christ in the midst? Just stop following the doctor. You'll lose him. Listen to the words that the Spirit of God had to say to Ephesus.

I will remove the lampstand from its place. God will not tolerate it. We might tolerate it.

The removal from doctor. We might even try to justify it. And we might even overlook it.

But we've already been told. This tilled field doesn't belong to me. It belongs to God.

Finally, go to Romans chapter 16. To be honest with you, this is really where my mind was, but... We've only got a few minutes left. This is something that I never noticed before.

And it's a very simple thing. And maybe for some, Romans 16 might be a fairly boring chapter. Because there's a lot of names.

I'm not even going to attempt to try to verbalize some of these names. I wouldn't name any of my children some of these names. But there's a word that is going to appear 21 times in chapter 16.

It appears 40 times. No, sorry, 60 times in the whole New Testament. But unlike any other chapter, there's a condensing of it in this chapter.

And it's a lovely word. It's a very warm word. And look at verse number 3. Here's the word.

Greet. Lovely word. Look at verse number 6. Greet.

Verse 7. Salute. 8. Greet. 9. Salute.

10. Salute. Salute.

11. Salute. 12.

Salute. Salute. 13.

Salute. You get the point! Do you know what it means? Well, it's stronger than us. Like, I'm looking forward to meeting my brother over there.

I've never met him yet. I've heard about him. But after dinner or whatever, I'll go over to him and I will introduce myself.

And I will grab his hand and I will shake his hand. That is not this word. You ever see people that shake and then they kind of embrace? It shows warmth.

It shows a connection. Almost a love for somebody. You almost feel like this is not enough.

You have to do more. You have to embrace. That's the word.

You know what's surprising about this chapter? He starts and he goes down and he's just like, salute, salute, salute. All these lovely, lovely, lovely warm words. And all these different people have arrived in.

Men, women, groups, assemblies. It's beautiful. Look what happens when he gets to verse 17.

Actually, go over to verse 16. Salute one another with a holy kiss. The churches of Christ salute you now.

I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine, which ye have learned, and avoid them. This is speaking of Christians. Other Christians.

The context is within the confines of assemblies. And it's preceded by other assembly believers that you just greet, embrace, hug, hold, holy kiss, on and on it goes. Why? Because you can read all of these lovely descriptive terms.

These brothers and sisters and groups were adhering to truth. They were living it. They were walking in it.

Now the Apostle Paul by the Spirit has to identify to these believers. Mark them. There are those in your company that are not following the Word of God.

They're starting to let doctrine slip. Don't give them the warm handshake. Don't give them the warm embrace.

Just turn from them. Avoid them. Has that happened today? Oh, what do you say? We'll lose them if we do that.

We just will be following the Word of God. See how we've let society change our actions? You hear this instead. Love them and they'll come back to the Word of God.

Just keep loving them. Just keep embracing them. You read this, dear child, God, in conjunction with 2 Thessalonians.

Where you get even more words of withdrawing. Don't eat with them. Pull away from them.

And we find a reason that the person might be ashamed and realize, I have moved from truth. See what I mean here, child, God? Truth is to be the uniter. Truth is the platform, the foundation on which we are all to be building.

Truth is what the Word of God wants to control where and whom my love goes to. Truth is what controls where my very joys, what I'm rejoicing in. It's all about truth.

And I look around at what's happening around us today, and I am absolutely surprised that someone can stand on a platform and they can teach, try to teach, like some are doing in Canada. That's nothing wrong with multiple couples. And we all sit there like a bunch of dummies on a post, just like a bobble.

Wrong! We should immediately stand up. Brother, that is against the doctrine. Let me ask you a question.

What would the men here do if all of a sudden every woman, you heard about the importance of head covering? What would you do if every woman all of a sudden took her hat off and put it in the seat in front of them? Would you just sit there and go, Oh, that's cool. Wonder what's going to happen. I hope the oversight of this assembly would be wise enough to stand up.

And right there on the spot, that is wrong, according to the Word of God. That's where we need to get, brothers and sisters. We're putting up, we're tolerating too much that's going away from the doctrine.

So God help us to know what the doctrine is so that when all of a sudden it starts to deviate, someone starts to deviate, we're able to go, red lights! And then we start to follow the Word of God. It's like, I can remember, with this I'll sit down, my father, a godly man, was an elder for over 50 years. He's now 87, he's unable to function on the oversight, but he's a tremendous, valuable, valuable, valuable spiritual help to me still to this very day.

I can remember as a young believer, first year being saved in God's assembly, I can remember situations that were happening. You know what my father would come to me and say? Now, Scott, I'm speaking to you as an elder, not your father. You know so-and-so? Now, avoid them.

They are poison right now. They will affect you in a wrong way. I'll let you know if things change, but so-and-so is poison toxic.

Stay away from him. I thank God for that advice, because that person is no longer in God's assembly. God, dear child of God, get a hold of the doctrine.

It's what saved us. It's what will keep us. It's what will preserve God's assemblies.

And it's where we should get our joy and our love from is the truth of the word of God.