2 John 1:4
“I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father.”
One thing that caused John to rejoice was seeing God’s people walking in truth. One of the common statements I get from visitors who visit our church is that they are amazed at how many people attend our services and the involvement of the people in our church. My church is a very active church, and one reason we are active is because you cannot please God by sitting, but you please Him by serving Him. Your Christian walk will never grab anyone’s attention through inaction, but it grabs the attention of people by your action in serving God. In other words, you grab the attention of people by walking in truth.
There are a couple of things I want you to see about this verse. You will notice that John said that these believers were “walking.” In other words, they were not sitting and doing nothing, but they were actively involved in the truth. Nobody has ever pleased God who sat and did nothing, but plenty have pleased Him by walking in service for Him. If you want God to be pleased with your life, you must be involved in serving Him.
Moreover, I want you to notice that they were “walking in truth.” They were not walking outside of truth, but in it. There are many churches and believers that are active, but they are active outside of truth. So, we must ask ourselves if we are going to please God, what is truth?
First, God’s Word is truth. You will never please the LORD by walking outside of the confines of God’s Word. God’s Word is the King James Bible for English-speaking people. To use anything to define truth but the King James Bible is to walk outside of truth. To glean truths outside of the King James Bible is not walking in truth. You can never walk in truth if you don’t use God’s Word.
Second, obeying God’s Word is walking in truth. The reason John rejoiced was because they were obeying the truth they knew. Too many are more worried about what they don’t know in God’s Word than they are with obeying what they already know. I am not saying that you should not study God’s Word, you should, but it would be best to obey what you already know if you want to walk in truth. To ignore what you already know is to harden your neck to the Holy Spirit which always results in God’s chastening.
Third, walking in the power of the Holy Spirit is walking in truth. 1 John 5:6 says, “…the Spirit is truth.” In other words, you cannot walk in truth without being filled with the Holy Ghost. The Spirit guides us into all truth; therefore, not to be led and filled with the Holy Spirit is to walk in disobedience.
Fourth, walking in truth is giving that truth to the lost world. In other words, you are not walking in truth if you are not a soul winner. The commission of the believer is to spread the Gospel to the world, so not to give the Gospel to the lost means you are walking in disobedience.
Let me ask you, are you walking in truth? Are you obeying God’s Word? Are you filled with the Holy Spirit? Are you giving the Gospel to the lost? You are either walking in truth or you are walking outside of truth. You will never please God when you walk outside of the truth. It does not matter how close you are to walking in truth; anything short of walking in truth is walking outside of truth, which is disobedience.
