Holy Scriptures and Israel

Guest (Male): Shalom. Holy Scriptures and Israel is a ministry designed to share with the Jewish people the good news of the Lord Jesus, Yeshua the Messiah, and to instruct Christians on the Jewish roots of their faith. And now, teaching God's word from a Hebrew Messianic perspective, here is Gideon Levytam.

Gideon Levytam: In this study of 2nd John, we receive light and walk in darkness. We receive the Holy Spirit of God indwelling us and walking in the flesh. It's not pleasing to the Lord. That's why he's saying to this elect lady and her children, it's not as though I wrote to you a new commandment, that which we had from the beginning. It's the same old truth that we have already received from Yeshua. I don't tell you something new. It's the same truth that we love one another.

And this is love, that we walk after his commandment. This is his commandment, that ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in love among the people of God. The important thing to understand is that the truth will never change. Generation change, people change, time changes, events change, but God's word remains the same. God's never going to change. We read in scripture, for example, in the book of Malachi, when he wrote to our people.

He says to Israel, "I change not. That's why, Jacob, you are not consumed." Because if I will change, I will judge you. But because I love you and I have a purpose for you, Israel, Jacob, I change not. In Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 8, we read, "Yeshua the Messiah, the same yesterday, today, and forever." He changes not. We change. I hope that when we become believers, we change to be walking in this newness of light.

But at times, brothers and sisters, because we are human beings, we still have the sin nature. One day we are on the mountain, the next day we are in the valley. One day we love the word, the next day we don't like it as much. One day we want to follow the Lord, the next day we're influenced by other things. We change, but he remains the same. His love for us changes not, and his desire for us to walk in love does not change at all.

Walking in love, it is so important, because the truth known in our hearts and our minds will produce the necessity of loving the brothers and sisters. So, now, in the last part of this letter, he is emphasizing to this elect lady, not only that you need to know the truth, not only you should walk in the truth, but to remain in the truth. To abide and to stay true to that which is given to us in the word of God.

And so, he is giving her a warning in verse 7 of the fact that many deceivers have already entered into the world in which they are seeking to influence the people of God. And he says in verse 7, "For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ, Yeshua HaMashiach, is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist, anti-Mashiach." Now, notice he's giving us additional warning in this letter.

I have already talked about those Gnostics. They have taught that this Jesus, this Yeshua, that when he was baptized, the spirit of the Messiah came upon him in his baptism, and when he died, the spirit of Christ, the spirit of Messiah, was removed from him, and that he was what you call a temporary type of a person, was really a phantom, just for the season he was here. They did not believe in the fact that Yeshua the Messiah was a real man.

That's the problem that existed at that time, and that's why John is addressing it. And so, apparently, already in the first century, there was those who were traveling around and going from place to place, and they were coming to their homes, knocking on the door, and says, "I am coming to teach the word of God." And because hospitality was very important, and it was commanded by the Lord Yeshua and by the early apostles, so to open your door to a guest speaker and to host him and listen to what he had to say was a privilege and a responsibility.

In the book of Hebrews in chapter 13, verse 1 and 2, it says here, "Let brotherly love continue. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." Hospitality was very important. So now, when somebody comes to your home and says, "I'm an itinerant preacher, I'm coming to teach the word of God," it was a privilege to have that person come into your home and host him until he goes to a next place.

And so, here what Yohanan is saying, "Listen, many deceivers have entered into the world, who confesses not that Yeshua is the Messiah." In other words, he is giving this elect lady and her children a warning. That word for deceivers, in Hebrew we call it mat'im. In verse 7, it's really those that divert you from the truth. The purpose of their coming to your home is to divert you from what you know already from the word of God.

See, Satan is a counterfeit. He always does exactly that which is against God and against his people. We read of him in 2nd Corinthians, at the end of the letter to the Corinthian, that he is appearing and sending his messengers to appear as angels of light, as if they are sharing the truth, but in reality, they are really diverting you from the truth of the word of God. And you see, it's amazing.

When God's work begins, Satan is seeking to copy what God is doing, except instead of leading mankind to God, it's really seeking to divert them from the knowledge of the truth of the word of God. And you know, brothers and sisters, we have these deceivers who are still today. You can hear them in various ways. You can read about them from the internet, certain magazines, and all that.

They would come even to your door, and they will knock on the door, and they are not coming there to ask what you think, but they are coming there to teach you what they know, and the purpose of their coming is in order to divert you from what you already know from the truth of the word of God. And by the way, what he does is very similar to other brethren of John. Paul warned the elders at Ephesus in Acts chapter 20, verse 29.

Paul says, "For I know that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock." Verse 30, "Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. You see that?" And he said, "Therefore watch and remember that by the space of three years, I ceased not to warn everyone night and day with tears." You know, Paul, Sha'ul, was weeping.

He wanted so badly that the people at Ephesus would be built up and not allow false doctrine to enter in their midst. He says, "For three years I labored and I sought to build you up, and I know," he says, "that after my departure, grievous wolves will enter among you, and you know what, beloved?" he says to them, "They will not spare the flock." See, Satan and those that follow him don't care for the flock.

They don't care for the people of God. They just want to have the disciples after themselves. And you see, this is the danger that Paul warned, like Yohanan here, who tells us many deceivers enter into this world, not confessing that Yeshua is the Messiah who came in the flesh. This is a deceiver and his antichrist, against the Mashiach, against the Messiah. Let me read one more verse in 2nd Peter chapter 2.

Not only that Yohanan wrote about it, not only that Sha'ul, Paul, wrote about it, but also Shimon Petros wrote about these things. And he says in verse 1 of 2nd Peter chapter 2, "But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift destruction, and many shall follow their pernicious ways, by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of."

What we really learn here, beloved brothers and sisters, those three towering Hebrew believers, apostles, gave warning to the body of Messiah, to the early church, the early assembly. And in the case of what John was speaking about, those were people who denied the humanity of Yeshua, that he was indeed the son of God. And that's why he's mentioned, they confess not that Yeshua the Messiah is come in the flesh.

Now, brothers and sisters, what would happen to us or to any one if Yeshua was not a real man? What are we doing here? We are really playing games. We are playing church or we are playing synagogue or whatever we call it. Because if Yeshua hasn't come as a real man was born into this world, there is no sense for us really going through this religiosity. It's a religion. Oh, it's very nice that God love us and so on, but how can God forgive yours and my sin?

How can he do that? He can't do that unless he has to judge sin. So, he made it possible to judge sin by virtue of the fact that he entered humanity. And this is not only New Testament truth, this was given to our forefathers already in the Tanakh, in the Old Testament. The seed of the woman, Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15, is the first prophecy that is given to our forefathers in the scripture.

And then the prophet Isaiah who wrote, "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given." As a child he was born in his humanity, as the eternal son he was given because he pre-existed as the eternal son. And what about Isaiah 7:14? "And she shall bring forth a son, and she called his name Immanuel, God with us." Isaiah already predicted this, sharing this with our people, of all the people of Israel, 750 years before Yeshua was even born.

It is necessary for God and for the truth to be understood that he had to become a man. And you notice again and again the scripture emphasizing the humanity of the Messiah, "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same. He became flesh and blood." Hebrews 2, verse 14. Why? "That through death he will destroy him that has the power of death, that is the devil."

He had to become a man so through his death, he will destroy the power of death and the one that had the power of death, the devil. So, how can people say that he was not a man, he was only a phantom? How? Otherwise we are not saved, we have no forgiveness of sins. This is very important. That's why John now, look at this, what he does here in the next verses, 8 and 9 and 10, he's really emphasizing this so strongly.

He's saying to them, "Beware not to be influenced lest you will lose rewards." He's saying in verse 8, "Look to yourselves, that we lose not the things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward." Notice how the Bible is very careful. He didn't say, "Beware lest you're going to lose your salvation," but what he's saying, "Look to yourself that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward."

You see, when we're going to get to glory, every believer is going to be at the judgment seat of the Messiah. And at the judgment seat of the Messiah, 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 10, 1st Corinthians chapter 3, where we read all the things that we have done for the Messiah will remain, and the things that we have done for the flesh will be burned. And we are going to receive reward.

Now, he wants them to receive many rewards because of faithfulness, obedience, living in the light of the truth. But he's telling them if you're going to get entangled by those preachers and you're going to allow them to influence you, it's not that you're going to lose your salvation, but you surely going to lose the full reward that God is intended for everyone that belong to Yeshua.

And that's why he's saying to them in verse 8, it is a responsibility, "that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward." This is the first warning in verse 8. Do not lose what you already have. You understand the truth that God became a man. You shall call his name Yeshua, for he will save his people from their sin. You understand that he became a man, you have accepted him as your Messiah and savior.

Don't entangle yourself with this kind of things. You know a person came to me actually last night and asked me this question. Said, "Brother Gideon, what you think about the Jehovah Witnesses?" Now, you know what they teach. They would come to your door and they will tell you that Jesus, Yeshua of the New Testament is not the Jehovah of the Old Testament. They will tell you that this person was a god, not God.

So, when you read in John chapter 1, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God," they say no, he was a god, he was a creature, he was not the creator. Now, which creature can save a sinner? No angels can save us. No great men can save us. No great leader can save us. Only God can save us. But how can he save us unless he dealt with the question of sin?

That's why John is so strong. He's telling to this lady and her children, and if it's applied to a local assembly, to this local assembly, "Listen, brothers and sisters, you have to understand the importance of the humanity of the Messiah." Now, notice what he is saying to them in verse 9, he gives the second warning. He says, "Do not move from the doctrine of the Messiah. Whosoever transgresses and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, the doctrine of the Mashiach, he has both the Father and the Son."

You see, brothers and sisters, what is the doctrine of Christ? In Hebrew, Torat HaMashiach, the teaching of the Messiah. Well, you remember when the Messiah came, when Yeshua the Messiah was living among our people in the land of Israel in Galilee, you remember in Matthew chapter 16, he came to the disciples and he said to them, "Who do men say that I, the son of man, am?"

And you remember what they said. Some of them say that you are Yirmeyahu, some say that you are one of the prophets, some say that you are Yohanan HaMatbil. But then he asked them, he says, "But who do you say?" and he was very specific. He was saying, "Notice, I the son of man am, Ani ben adam, I the son of man." Shimon Petros come with an answer. And he says, "You are the Messiah, the son of the living God."

And then Yeshua said to him, "Flesh and blood have not revealed this unto you, but my Father which is in heaven." In other words, Peter, you received this revelation from the Father. This revelation that you and I know today about the divine nature and the human nature of Yeshua the Messiah, we only know it on the basis of the word, but by divine revelation. The Holy Spirit of God help us to understand it.

Because another person, your neighbor, does not understand it, and another one from your family do not understand it. Well, how come you understand it? How come I understand it? Are we smarter than them? No. It is truly divine revelation that God had given to us. And John is simply saying, "If a person do not believe in the humanity of Yeshua the Messiah, he doesn't have God whatsoever."

In other words, those that would come to us and tell us that Yeshua was not really God who became a man, really are not belonging to God whatsoever. I didn't say it, Yohanan's saying it. And he's saying it very clearly, if one does not abiding in the doctrine of the Messiah, he or she do not have God. He that abideth in the doctrine of the Messiah, he has both the Father and also the Son.

Look in the gospel of John, when Yeshua before his death he said, in John chapter 5, verse 21, "For as the Father raises up the dead and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom he will." Verse 22, "For the Father judges all men, but he committed all judgment unto the Son, that all men should honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son, honoreth not the Father which hath sent him."

In other words, when a person does not honor the Son, he doesn't honor the Father. When a person do not recognize God the Son, he do not recognize God the Father. A person can be religious, he can say that he believe in God, but if he doesn't recognize and acknowledge the Messiahship of Yeshua, he does not belong to him. Now, verse 10 and 11 is the third warning: "Do not go along with false teachers and false teaching."

Look at this, verse 10: "If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed, for he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds." Somebody's going to come to you and knock on the door of your house, and he will bring not this teaching, this doctrine. Say, "Yeah, I'm coming to you and I'm going to teach you something. I'm going to tell you the better way, the right way," and he doesn't bring this teaching, this doctrine that is found in the word of God, the doctrine that is found in scripture, the doctrine concerning the person and the work of Yeshua the Messiah.

Look what he says: "Don't allow him into your house, don't even bid him God speed." In other words, don't say, "Hey, God bless you." You know why? Because imagine if somebody come to your house and he bring false teaching, and you say, "Well, I can't receive you here, but God bless you." In other words, go somewhere else and teach somebody else this false doctrine. What you do, you are participating.

You are wishing him blessing and success in his false doctrine elsewhere. Maybe he didn't do it in your own home. You were perhaps strong enough and wise enough not to allow him to teach you in your own home, but if you allow him to go somewhere else and you say him, "Hey, God bless you," you really saying, "I wish you well and success somewhere else wherever you go." And that's why he says, "He that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deed."

And as he says here, don't even bid them God speed. Now, we can pray for them. We should pray. We should appeal to them and seek to tell them, "Listen, I'm going to tell you what I understand from scripture," but it is another thing to bring them in knowingly that they are going to come to teach you their teaching and ultimately influence you to follow after in a wrong direction.

Now, you cannot lose your salvation if you belong to Yeshua. Any one of us, we all belong to Yeshua the Messiah, our salvation does not depend upon any of our performance. But what it does to a believer, it hinder us from spiritual growth, and it begin to sow all sort of things in our mind that are not healthy for a believer in Yeshua the Messiah. And so, brothers and sisters, John, Yohanan, is saying God's people need to know the truth, God's people need to walk in God's truth, but God's people need to remain, to abide in God's truth and to be simply firm, not to deviate from these fundamentals that we know in the scripture.

So, here's the conclusion in verses 12 and 13. John's hope was to come and visit and see this person, this elect lady, face to face and speak to her mouth to mouth, as it says here in verse 12, "Having many things to write unto you, I would not write with paper and ink, but I trust to come unto you and speak face to face, that our joy may be full." You see, he could write a lot more because there were a lot of other things that he could write about.

But he says, "Listen, I'm not going to write anymore. I really wish and trust to be able to come to you and speak with you, not so much face to face but mouth to mouth," the way it is written in the Greek, "that our joy may be full." You know, we want to have a joy of the Lord together as believers. And then he continue and he says, "The children of thy elect sister greet thee. Amen."

That's how he's closing his epistle, and he says, "Listen, other believers are greeting you." And by the way, that's why some Bible teachers take this letter to say that it was written not necessarily to a single lady, but to the assembly, the church, the Ecclesia, looked upon or called a sister, a lady, a woman, because he says in verse 13, "The children of thy elect sister," another local church from another area, another city perhaps, they also greet you.

And then he closed the letter with the word Amen. And so, brothers and sisters, it is important to know the truth. It is also important to walk in the truth, but it is very important to abide in the truth. We live in the Laodicean days. You see all sort of things you hear it on the radio, the television, the internet, wherever you are, you hear all kind of opinion of man. How do we relate to it?

We have to be very careful to hold on that which is sound and to know how to remove and to set aside that which is unbiblical, that which is not from the word of God. Well, may the Lord help us and encourage us and lead us on to follow the truth of the word of God.

Guest (Male): You've been listening to Holy Scriptures and Israel with Gideon Levytam. Gideon teaches God's word from a Hebrew Messianic perspective. For more information about this ministry, write to Holy Scriptures and Israel, Box 1411 Niagara-on-the-Lake Ontario, L0S 1J0, or visit our website at holyscripturesandisrael.com. You are also invited to Gideon's weekly Bible teaching on Fridays at 11:00 AM and 7:00 PM and Saturdays at 1:00 PM at Willowdale Christian Assembly Hall, 28 Martin Ross Avenue in Toronto. Holy Scriptures and Israel is made possible by your prayers and financial support. If you would like to support the program, visit holyscripturesandisrael.com. God bless you, Shalom Shalom.