Gary Gleans

John to the seven churches that are in Asia:   Grace to you and peace from   him   who is and   who was and who is to come, and from   the seven spirits who are before his throne,   and from Jesus Christ   the faithful witness,   the firstborn of the dead, and   the ruler of kings on earth.    To   him who loves us and   has freed us from our sins by his blood   and made us   a kingdom,   priests to   his God and Father, to him be   glory and   dominion forever and ever. Amen.    Behold,   he is coming with the clouds, and   every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wai l  on account of him. Even so. Amen.    “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God,   “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” Jesus is the central Person of this revelation.  This passage speaks to His identity, th...

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God   gave him   to show to his servants the things that must soon take place.   He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,   who bore witness to the word of God and to   the testimony of Jesus Christ, even   to all that he saw.    Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it,   for the time is near. As we embark on the study of this final book of the New Testament, we do so with the recognition that this is not an easy or uncontroversial task.  There are many ways this book has been interpreted throughout the history of the church.  I’m certain this will not be any sort of definitive work and that it will disappoint those who would interpret the text differently.  My hope is that we will all learn and grow through the process.  We can always learn from those with wh...

Now to him who is able   to keep you from stumbling and   to present you   blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy,   to   the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord,   be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. The Gospel is the most effective weapon to combat false teachers and false doctrine.  Jude closes his letter by pointing to the power the Gospel of Christ has to transform us and our standing before God.  He then demonstrates the result of this magnificent accomplishment is the worship of the Lord Jesus Christ. THE GOSPEL SANCTIFIES BELIVERS: The Gospel is all about Jesus.  All that the Gospel accomplishes is through Him and is about Him.  As fallen people, we stumble and fail at an alarming rate.  But He is able to keep us from stumbling.  He will preserve us in our faith and will perfect us so that for all of etern...

But you must   remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.    They said to you,   “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.”    It is these who cause divisions, worldly people,   devoid of the Spirit.    But you, beloved,   building yourselves up in your most holy faith and   praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God,   waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.    And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by   snatching them out of   the fire; to others show mercy   with fear, hating even   the garment stained by the flesh. Prophecy is a wonderful gift of God.  It both warns us of the evil we must face in this world and encourages us about God’s promises for the future.  Since God knows the future, we can be assured that He is in control of our curren...

It was also about these that Enoch,   the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying,   “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones,   to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have   committed in such an ungodly way, and of all   the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”    These are grumblers, malcontents,   following their own sinful desires;   they are loud-mouthed boasters,   showing favoritism to gain advantage. The existence of those who rebel against God is long standing going all the way back to the fall of mankind. Seven generations after Adam, Enoch prophesied about the Lord’s coming judgment of sin.  Any prosperity that false teachers may seem to enjoy in the present is simply temporary.  Jude describes the coming judgment as well as the cause behind that judgment. THE CONDEMNATION OF APOSTATES IS SURE: Once s...

Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and   blaspheme the glorious ones.    But when   the archangel   Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing   about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said,   “The Lord rebuke you.”    But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively.    Woe to them! For they walked in   the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain   to Balaam's error and   perished in Korah's rebellion.    These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear,   shepherds feeding themselves;   waterless clouds,   swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead,   uprooted;   wild waves of the sea, casting up ...

Now I want   to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that   Jesus, who saved   a people out of the land of Egypt,   afterward destroyed those who did not believe.    And   the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day— just as   Sodom and Gomorrah and   the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and   pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. Rebellion against God and unbelief has consequences.  There is a sense that people have that God ignores sin.  People wrongly mistake His graciousness and patience for indifference.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  God hates and judges sin.  It might not take place instantaneously, but it will take place eventually....

Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ: May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.     Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.     For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. It would be interesting to know what Jude would have written about our common salvation.  We can speculate that he would have written about how the Gospel unites both Jews and Gentiles through faith in Christ.  He could have simply written about salvation through faith in Christ.  What he might have...

I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority.     So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us. And not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers, and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church.     Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God.     Demetrius has received a good testimony from everyone, and from the truth itself. We also add our testimony, and you know that our testimony is true.     I had much to write to you, but I would rather not write with pen and ink.     I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face.     Peace be to you. The friends greet you. Greet the friends, each by name. Examples can be both positive and negative.  We can learn from both....

Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for   these brothers,   strangers as they are,   who testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner   worthy of God.    For they have gone out for the sake of   the name,   accepting nothing from the Gentiles.    Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth. The furtherance of the Gospel requires cooperation within the body of Christ.  Everyone has a role to play, and every aspect of the mission is important.  Gaius was a leader in a local church that was given the opportunity to cooperate with missionaries who were striving to advance the Gospel to unreached places.  John encouraged these practices that we too would do well to emulate. PRACTICE HOPITALITY: The word for hospitality is derived from two words: love and strangers.  Gaius and t...

The elder to the beloved Gaius,   whom I love in truth.    Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.    For   I rejoiced greatly when the brother s  came and testified to your truth, as indeed you are walking in the truth .   I have no greater joy than to hear that   my children are walking in the truth. John writes this personal letter to a church leader named Gaius.  We really don’t know who this man is or where he ministered.  This introduction to the letter teaches us some valuable lessons about relationships between brothers in Christ and the ministry of encouragement. LOVING THROUGH PRAYER: It is a blessing to see John practice his preaching.  He communicates his love for Gaius in the introduction to this letter and demonstrates that love through prayer.  We don’t really know who Gaius is or where this letter was sent....

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.     Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward.     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.     If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.     Though I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink. Instead I hope to come to you and talk face to face, so that our joy may be complete.     The children of your elect sister greet you. The hope of the Gospel and the fellowship of believers are blessings of inestimable v...

I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father.    And now I ask you, dear lady—not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning—that we love one another.    And   this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just   as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it.   There are some basic principles that every believer should understand about how we are expected to live.  Both Paul and John use the image of walking to describe our life in Christ.  It is not a sprint that can be achieved in a short period of time.  Rather, it is a life-long pursuit that will mark our lives day after day. WALK IN TRUTH: It is certainly a reason for great rejoicing to see fellow believers walking in the truth.  We live in a world where the father of lies, Satan, has bee...

The elder to the elect lady and her children,   whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all who   know   the truth,   because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever:   Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father's Son, in truth and love. This short letter gives us a summary of some of the most important teachings in Scripture.  In John 17 the apostle recorded for us the high priestly prayer of Jesus.  In that prayer, Jesus emphasized the importance of love and truth.  John repeats that theme here.  These two vital characteristics must be held in balance with one another. THE PEOPLE: The elder clearly refers to John, the author of the book.  The elect lady and her children are the recipients of this letter.  This could refer to a specific lady in the church that regularly opened her home to host people.  It could also ...

We know that   everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but   he who was born of God   protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.    We know that we are from God, and   the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.     And we know that the Son of God has come and   has given us understanding, so that we may know   him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and   eternal life.    Little children,   keep yourselves from idols. Because we are believers, there are certain things that we know.  John concludes this epistle reviewing those things that we know to be true because of our relationship with God through faith in Christ.  The knowledge of these truths should be transformative in our lives. BELIEVERS DON’T PRACTICE SIN: Clearly all believers continue to sin, but they do not “keep on” sinning.  There is a cl...

I write   these things to you who   believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.    And this is   the confidence that we have toward him, that   if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.    And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.    If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and   Go d  will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death.   There is sin that leads to death;   I do not say that one should pray for that.    All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death. John summarizes, as usual, the main purpose for his writing this book.  He touches on many different themes in this writing, but they are all bound together by the main intent of helping us know that we have eternal life.  Thi...