Love God In Truth | 2 John 7-9
Good morning, Main Street. It is good to be with you all this morning.
If you don’t know me, my name is Jack. I’m on staff here at Main Street, and I’m grateful for the chance to open God’s Word with you today.
And before we jump into our passage, I want to take just a moment to remind us where we’ve been, because it’s been about two months since the last time we were in this little letter of 2 John together.
And I don’t know about you, but when you step away from something for a while, it helps to get reoriented. It’s kind of like pausing a show mid-season… and then coming back later and thinking, “Wait… who is this guy again? What happened in the last episode?”
So let’s remember what John has already been teaching us.
This whole letter fits so well with our church's mission: Love God. Love Others. Make Disciples. John has been walking us through what that actually looks like in everyday Christian life.
The first time we were in 2 John, we noticed that John begins with the repeated word 'truth'. He says the truth abides in us, and the truth will be with us forever. And we talked about how you can’t love a God you’ve invented in your own mind. You love God by knowing Him as He truly is.
We said that loving God means knowing the truth, enjoying the truth, and abiding in the truth, because the truth is not cold or lifeless. John says it brings grace, mercy, and peace.
So John started by grounding us: Love God… in truth.
Then, the last time we were here, John moved from loving God to loving others. He says, “I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth…” and then he gives this command: love one another.
We talked about how real love isn’t just convenience, it’s sacrificial. It’s forgiving. It’s shaped by Jesus Himself. John says, “This is love, that we walk according to His commandments.”
So we’ve seen John teaching us: Love God in truth. Love others in truth and love.
But now, today, John shifts into something urgent. Because here’s what John knows: the moment a church starts walking in truth, the moment believers start loving one another faithfully, the enemy doesn’t just sit back.
The greatest threat to a church walking in truth and love… is deception.
That’s why verse 7 begins the way it does: “For many deceivers have gone out into the world…”
John is saying, Church, if you’re going to love God rightly and love others faithfully, then you need to be on guard. Because there are voices that want to pull you away from the real Jesus.
And John loves this church that he is writing to, and loves us, too much not to warn us.
So today, John puts a sign on the road in front of us and says, Do not be deceived.
And honestly, this warning reminds me of a time in my own life when I got a little lost on the way to propose to Megan. To set the stage a little, Megan knew I was going to propose. She had narrowed it down to a few weekends because we were long-distance, and eventually, I think she figured out the actual weekend I was going to, BUT I think I still had her guessing on the exact time.
We were heading into San Francisco for the day to go to a Giants vs. Mariners game with Megan’s brother and his fiancée. Long before I had planned with them and some of our mutual friends the time and place for my proposal, Lake Chabot Park. We went to breakfast, then said we would drive to the Golden Gate Bridge and hang out in San Fran until the game. As you can see, the park and the bridge aren't that close to each other, but we weren't worried about Megan’s sense of direction. In fact, as we were driving around the park, Megan said, “Huh, I didn’t know the area around the bridge looked like this.”
The entire morning, breakfast, and hour-long drive were the most stressful of my life. I had the ring in the box tucked under my jeans' waistband because a friend said, "Don’t put it in your pocket; she will be able to tell." I am also communicating with my buddy Brandon, who was there with Eli and some other friends, getting the little area set up, trying not to let Megan see my phone, and hoping she can’t tell we aren't going to the bridge. My hands were sweating like crazy, and I was watching the time on the maps until we finally arrived. Unfortunately, none of us had been there before.
I had a pin from Brandon, and we pulled into the parking lot, and, of course, it was just PACKED. So we looked for street parking and still found it packed for a mile in each direction. We are just driving around, and I, Megan's brother, and his fiancée are saying very cryptic things to each other, like, "I think we need to go back down there," or "let's try the parking lot one more time." At this point I am so nervous I am about to throw up, I start giving directions to which specific parking lot we need to goto because that is where I have directions from, Megan is like wow this guy has never been to the golden gate bridge but he knows his way around better than anyone, dang he is impressive and FINALLY after what felt like another hour of driving around the park we find a place to park in the parking lot, I followed Brandon's directions to the spot and proposed.
And just like that morning, getting lost spiritually doesn’t usually start with a big mistake or a conscious choice to wander; it usually starts with a wrong turn, a shortcut, or a small distraction.
Before we look at verse 7, I want to give you a quick roadmap for today so you know where we’re headed. John is warning us about deception, and I want to highlight three ways it shows up in our walk with Jesus.
First, The Danger of Deception, recognizing that false teachers and misleading voices are real and persistent.
Second, The Stumble, how easy it is to drift away from the truth if we’re not watching our own hearts and guarding our faith.
And third, The Shortcut, the trap of thinking we can progress spiritually by moving beyond the Gospel, chasing something “new” instead of abiding in Jesus. As we look at these three points, I want you to see how each one applies not just to the early church, but to us today, walking in the middle of everyday life.
John begins this next section with a reality we cannot ignore: deception is not rare. It is real.
So let’s look at verse 7 together.
Point 1: The Detour (The Reality of Deception)
For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist.
2 John 7
John begins this new section with a stark reality check. He isn't saying there are "a few" confused people out there. He says, "Many deceivers." And they aren't all in one place; they are "spread out into the world." Deception is not passive; it is active. It’s mobile. It’s not just sitting in a dark corner; it’s on your news feed, it’s in the books on the bestseller list, it’s in the cultural water we drink. It has "gone out" to find you.
Now, what specifically were they lying about? John says they do not confess "Jesus Christ coming in the flesh." In John’s day, there were false teachers who claimed that Jesus came to earth spiritually, maybe as an "enlightened one" or a divine vision, but that He wasn't a human like other people. They couldn't handle the idea that God would actually become a human. They taught a "Jesus" who was just a spirit. A hologram.
But John says, "No." The Bible teaches that Jesus was born with a physical body just like ours. Why does this matter? Why is John fighting so hard for this? Because if Jesus were not a real person, He could not have physically died and resurrected. If He didn't have a body, He couldn't shed blood. If He couldn't shed blood, He couldn't pay for sins. Both the humanity and the deity of Jesus are essential. You remove one, and the whole thing falls apart.
Defining the Antichrist
Now, look at the end of verse 7. John calls this person "an antichrist." We need to pause here because we have a lot of baggage with this word. When we hear "Antichrist," we immediately think of the movies. We think of a specific Super-Villain who appears in the Book of Revelation just before the world ends.
But I want you to look closely at your Bible. There is a big difference between The Antichrist (Capital A) and an antichrist (lowercase a).
Capital A: Revelation points to a future figure who will rise at the end of history.
We see this in Revelation 13
And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months. It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven. Also, it was permitted to wage war against the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given to it over every tribe and people and language and nation, and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.
Lowercase a: John is telling us that the spirit of the antichrist is already here. It’s not just one guy in the future; it’s a mindset right now.
The translation does this deliberately to show that "antichrist" isn't just a name; it's a description. "Anti" means against. It literally means "The one opposed to Christ." John is warning us: Don't get so distracted looking for a future movie villain that you miss the deception standing right in front of you today.
Now, you might be sitting there thinking, "Jack, I don't know anyone who claims Jesus was a hologram. This doesn't apply to me." But here is why this matters to us at Main Street: We still do this today. We don’t mind a Jesus that is safe, convenient, and fits our needs.
But the REAL Jesus is a Jesus who had a physical body and demands control over our physical bodies?
A Jesus who cares what I do with my eyes
A Jesus who cares how I spend my money
A Jesus who cares how I fill my time
That Jesus is uncomfortable.
John calls anyone who denies this reality the "Antichrist." They are speaking lies and are fundamentally opposed to who He really is. To walk with God is to walk with the real Jesus.
Jesus talks about this himself in Matthew 24. He says
And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray.
Matthew 24:5
So John starts by exposing the detour of deception around us, but next, he turns the spotlight inward, because the real danger is what happens when our own hearts begin to drift.
Point 2: The Stumble (The Danger of Drifting)
Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward.
2 John 8
After John exposes the deception in verse 7, he turns directly to the church and gives a simple yet urgent command: “Watch yourselves.” That’s really the heartbeat of this verse.
And notice what John does not say here. He doesn’t say, “Go hunt down the deceivers.” He doesn’t say, “Spend all your time arguing online.” He doesn’t say, “Make it your mission to win every theological debate.”
Instead, John’s first concern is not that you become an expert at spotting everyone else’s errors, but that you guard your own heart. So John says, “Watch yourselves. Guard your heart. Be careful, because this is real.”
What makes this warning even more sobering is that John includes himself in it. Did you notice the word “we”? He says, “so that you may not lose what we have worked for.” Even the Apostle John speaks with humility here. He’s not standing above them like a spiritual superhero; If even John says, “Watch yourselves,” then none of us are above the need to be on guard. A mature faith does not eliminate the need for watchfulness; it deepens it.
We can also learn from Jesus himself, who was tempted, as seen in Hebrews 2
Therefore, he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
Then John tells us why this matters: “so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward.” Now, that language can raise questions. What does John mean by “lose”? Is he saying Christians can lose salvation? And the answer is no. John is not contradicting everything else the Bible teaches about the security of God’s people. Jesus Himself said, “No one will snatch them out of My hand.” John is not talking about losing justification; he is talking about losing fruitfulness.
The New Testament often speaks about reward, and it’s not something to be afraid of. Reward language is everywhere: Luke 6:23, John 4:36, Revelation 22:12, and specifically, I want to read 1 Corinthians 3:11-15:
For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.
1 Corinthians 3:11-15
The Bible teaches that God, in grace, delights to reward perseverance, not because we earn salvation, but because God honors the work His grace produces in His people. As one scholar put it, God rewards deeds fueled by grace, not those performed to purchase grace. So this isn’t about losing your place in God’s family, but about losing what could have been built through a faithful life.
John’s phrase here is also deeply personal. He says, “What we have worked for.” John is reminding them, “I have labored among you.” The apostles preached, discipled, prayed, and encouraged. The church itself has endured, walked, and grown. John is pleading, “Don’t let all that labor be wasted. Don’t let years of God’s work among you be undone by drift.” This is a shepherd begging his people, “Don’t throw away what God has been building.”
Imagine you’re out on a lake in a boat. You don’t have to jump overboard to end up in danger. You don’t have to make some dramatic decisions. All you have to do is stop paying attention. Stop rowing. Stop watching where you are. And slowly, the current begins to carry you farther than you ever meant to go. That’s what John is warning about here. Drift isn’t always loud or intentional. But it is real. And if we aren’t careful, we can lose the fruit of what God has been building in us.
Drift begins with neglect, distraction, and laziness. It’s a slow loosening of grip. A closed Bible becomes normal. Prayer becomes occasional. Sin becomes tolerated. And over time, your heart grows dull.
The Christian life is not like a parked car; it’s like walking upstream. If you stop paying attention, you don’t stay still; you move backward. That’s why John says, “Watch yourselves.”
We see in James that we must put our faith into action!
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself, goes away, and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
John’s desire is not that they barely make it. He wants them to “win a full reward.” He wants fullness, joy, perseverance, and a life that finishes well. The power of salvation isn’t just that you avoid hell; it’s that you have the power to live faithfully now, to love God, to love others, to endure, and to abide. So don’t let the world rob you of the legacy of a faithful walk. Church, watch yourselves.
Point 3: The Shortcut (The Trap of “Progress”)
Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.
2 John 9
Here is the trap John is warning about: the person who “goes on ahead.” The language John uses carries the idea of moving forward, advancing, progressing. On the surface, that sounds like a good thing. We like progress. We admire growth. Our entire culture is built around the obsession with the next thing. We want the newest phone before the old one is even scratched. We want the newest update, the newest trend, the newest life-hack. We are addicted to the feeling of moving forward.
And the deceivers in John’s day were using that exact desire against the church. They were coming to believers and essentially saying, “That message about the cross? That’s basic. That’s beginner-level Christianity. If you want to be truly spiritual, you need something deeper. You need to move beyond what the apostles taught. You need something new.” Colossians 2:8 warns against that saying:
See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.
Colossians 2:8
True progress is staying rooted in the Word of God.
And honestly, we see this same thing today, all the time. Not usually with someone standing up and saying, “I reject Jesus.” It’s much more subtle than that. It often sounds like, “I’m just rethinking faith,” or, “I’m evolving spiritually,” or, “That’s the old version of Christianity.” People say, “I like Jesus… just not all the exclusive stuff. We need something more updated.”
But John would tell us, if the “new version” of Christianity requires you to shrink Jesus down, if it requires you to edit out His incarnation, His authority, His cross, His resurrection, His lordship, then that is not moving forward. That is moving away. The world loves a Jesus who inspires. The world does not love a Jesus who reigns. So the temptation is always to trade the real Jesus for a safer one.
That’s why John gives such a clear litmus test here. He says, “Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have God.” In other words, if someone teaches something about Jesus that is grossly wrong, denying who He truly is, John says they do not have God. There is nothing noble or admirable about a false Jesus. To reject the true Jesus is to reject God completely.
And if I’m honest, I’ve felt this pull in my own life too, not necessarily toward outright false teaching, but toward the shortcut mentality. I remember in college, Eli and I, along with a few friends, had a bible study where we would just try to ask and answer the craziest questions in the Bible, about dinosaurs, Bigfoot, aliens, you name it. I realize now that we thought we knew it all, we didn’t need to go read the Sunday school stories again.
But I’ve learned this: every time I go looking for something “new” to replace simple faithfulness, it never draws me closer to Jesus. It just distracts me. The deepest growth I’ve experienced has never come from discovering something beyond Jesus. It has always come from returning to Him.
That’s why John uses this word abide here as well in his gospel in John 15:4-5, he says
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
John 15:4-5
To abide means to dwell, to remain, to stay. The true believer is not marked by chasing novelty, but by continuing in the truth. Walking in between doesn’t mean running ahead of Jesus to find something more exciting. It means walking with Him. Staying close. Settling down in the gospel.
So hear what John is saying in verse 9: the greatest danger to your soul is not always rebellion. Sometimes it is the slow, subtle temptation to “go on ahead.” To assume the gospel is something you start with, but eventually move past.
But the Christian life is not a ladder where you climb beyond Jesus. Jesus is not the foundation you leave behind. Jesus is the entire house. He is the beginning, the middle, and the end. And the mark of a true believer is not that they found something newer. It’s that they stayed. They remained. They abided.
So don’t take the shortcut. Don’t trade Jesus for something less. Hold fast. Stay close. And abide in him.
Conclusion
So, Main Street, the question John leaves us with is simple but weighty: how do we walk faithfully in the in-between without being deceived? How do we stay on the path when there are so many voices calling out, so many distractions pulling at us, and so many subtle shortcuts that promise something easier or newer?
John gives us three clear anchors.
First, we accept the real Jesus. We don’t make up a fantasy Jesus that fits our preferences or comforts our culture. We embrace the One who actually came in the flesh, fully God, fully man, who truly lived, truly suffered, truly died, and truly rose again. As it says in Philippians 2:6-8:
who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Philippians 2:6-8
Jesus, coming as fully God and fully man, is not optional. It is the heart of our salvation. If Jesus did not come in the flesh, then He did not take our place. But because He did, we have a real Savior, a real cross, and a real hope.
Second, John tells us, we watch ourselves. We pay attention to our own hearts. We recognize that drifting is always possible, but John doesn’t tell the church to spend all their energy chasing down deceivers; he tells them to guard their own walk. Because deception rarely begins with rebellion. It begins with neglect. It begins with small compromises. It begins when we stop paying attention. So we watch ourselves, not in fear, but in faith, because we want to finish well and receive the full reward of perseverance.
And third, John reminds us, we don’t run ahead. We abide. We remain. We stay rooted in the teaching of Jesus. We don’t need a “new” truth. We don’t need something beyond the gospel. We need to go deeper into what has already been given to us. True spiritual progress is not moving past Jesus; it is moving closer to Him.
I also want to leave us with three practical steps for this week.
First, check your sources. What voices are shaping you right now? Podcasts, media, social platforms, influencers, and authors, are they pointing you toward the Jesus of the Bible, or toward a substitute Jesus? If they contradict the Jesus who came in the flesh, don’t entertain it. Turn it off. We see in 2 Corinthians 11:13–15 that these are real.
For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.
2 Corinthians 11:13–15
Second, take what I call the mirror test. Ask someone you trust, a spouse, a close friend, a mature believer, “Where do you see me drifting?” And be brave enough not just to ask, but to listen. God often protects us through the loving honesty of others.
And third, go to Jesus.
When you feel unsure, when you feel tempted by shortcuts, when you sense drift in your heart, the answer is not to panic or perform; it’s to return. Run back to the One who has already run toward you. Abide in Him. Cling to Him. Stay close to Him.
That is how we are not deceived, not by chasing something new, but by going again and again to the Jesus we have already received.
Main Street, this is how we walk faithfully in between:
We accept the real Jesus,
We watch ourselves,
And we keep going back to Him.
And church, I keep thinking about that proposal day.
All the wrong turns… all the confusion… all the stress…
But the moment we finally arrived, everything made sense.
And in a far greater way, that’s what Jesus does for us.
When we’re distracted, when we drift, when we take detours…
He doesn’t leave us lost.
He brings us home.
So this week, don’t run ahead.
Don’t chase shortcuts.
Just go to Jesus.
Because the One who came in the flesh…
is the One who loves you, holds you, and will never let you go.
So do not be deceived because Jesus is not only the truth that we need.
He is the Savior who loves you, holds you, and will never let you go.
Abide in Him today.
Response
I am going to ask the band to come back up here, and I am just going to leave these up here for a minute or so, and I have all of us think about what we need to be reminded of this week and what steps we can practically take in the next week.
Preparing the Table
If you are a believer and follower of Christ, we invite you to grab the communion elements up front or at either of the stations in the back over the next 2 songs.
If you are not yet a follower of Jesus, many people in this room would love to talk to you about what that looks like, so feel free to talk to me or anyone around you about it.
Parents, feel free to go grab your children at the ramp out in the hallway.
We will take communion after the next 2 songs.
Communion
On the night that Jesus was betrayed, he sat with his disciples, and he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” Likewise, the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. Do this in remembrance of me.
Pray
Benediction
Numbers 6:
“The LORD bless you and keep you;
The LORD make his face to shine upon you and be
gracious to you;
The LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give
you peace.
