What a privilege we have to gather
together with God's people and with one heart and one accord
to remember His death until He comes again. Take a few moments and look at
the third epistle of John, the third John. the elder unto the well-beloved
Gaius, whom I love in the truth. Beloved, I wish above all things
that thou mayest prosper and be in health even as thy soul
prospereth. For I rejoiced greatly when the
brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even
as thou walkest in the truth. I have no greater joy than to
hear that my children walk in truth. Beloved, thou doest faithfully
whatsoever thou doest to the brethren and to strangers. which
have borne witness of thy charity before the church, whom if thou
bring forward on their journey after a godly sort, thou shalt
do well. Because that for his name's sake
they went forth taking nothing of the Gentiles. We therefore
ought to receive such that we might be fellow helpers to the
truth. I wrote unto the church, but
Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth
us not. Wherefore, if I come, I will
remember his deeds, which he doeth, prating against us with
malicious words, and not content therewith. Neither doth he himself
receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth
them out of the church. Beloved, follow not that which
is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God,
but he that doeth evil hath not seen God. Demetrius hath good
report of all men, and of the truth itself. Yea, and we also
bear record, and ye know that our record is true. I had many
things to write, but I will not with ink and pen write unto thee. But I trust I shall shortly see
thee, and we shall speak face to face. Peace be to thee. Our friends salute thee. Greet
the friends by name. Now this is a very intimate bit
of correspondence here to a particular individual. Now as we look there
in 2 John and made the remarks concerning that this was addressed
to the elect lady whom I believe was a particular church that
he was writing to, but some believe that it was an individual, but
we don't really have any concrete reason to believe that it was
an individual, like we do in this particular passage, because
he identifies Geis by name. And so we're certain that he
was writing to one particular individual, but with application,
of course, to the church, as we'll see. But he evidently,
Geis, we're not, there's actually three Geises that are mentioned
in the scripture, but none of the ones that are previously
mentioned appear to be the same as this one. And so, We believe, according to what
John writes here, that this Gaius was one whom the Lord had brought
to Christ under his ministry, as he considered him his child
in the faith. As he says here, he said, I have
no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in the truth.
So he considered Gaius to be his son in the Lord because the
Lord had called Gaius to hear the gospel through John and had
come to faith and became a disciple. Now there's a difference in hearing
the gospel and having a outward adherence to it as far as believing
that it's so, and being a disciple of Christ. Now the Lord said
that we're to, gave the charge to his disciples that they would
make disciples in the earth, not just that they would make
converts. Now that's the idea today is
go out and just get as many converts as you can. We're just out here
trying to get them. That's not the point. We're going
forth preaching the gospel that the Lord might, through those
things, raise up disciples of Christ. Now the disciples of
Christ, a disciple of Christ, it just simply means a follower
of Christ. And a man cannot be a follower
of Christ unless he has the intent to walk in the way that Christ
walked, to walk according to the precepts that Christ laid
down. We're not freelancers. Now we
are free in Christ, but we're not freelancers. There's a big
difference. You know, a freelancer, he just
goes out here and just does whatever he wants to because he says he's
free to do it. But God's people don't have such
a mindset. We're not called to be freelancers. We're not called to just do whatever
comes to our mind or whatever we're set out to do, but to follow
Christ, to be obedient to his commands, to love one another. to love him with all of our heart. And when that is the case, when
a man is a disciple of Christ, he will desire to do the things
of God. That's what it means to be a
disciple. It is to be a follower, not just to say you believe,
but to adopt in your mind and heart the ways of Christ, that
it becomes that which you cannot live without. See, there were
many that followed the Lord for the loaves and fishes, as we
spoke about earlier when Brother Al was speaking there about Shimei
and Joab. Both Shimei and Joab, at certain
points of time in their lives, you could have looked at them
and said, oh look, they're faithful servants. Because there was Joab,
like Brother Al pointed out, doing exactly what David told
him to do. Until he didn't. Until he decided
that, you know, he knew better than David did. And that he,
so he disobeyed David. Now, we can, it can be argued,
surely, that Absalom deserved exactly what he got. You know,
and certainly it was the Lord ordained by the hand of Joab
that Absalom would meet his death. We have no question about that.
But Joab was not acting out of a love for God, nor a love for
David. Joab was acting out of a love
for his self. And he was looking for a place
of advancement. And so it was when he began to
follow after Adonijah. Because he wasn't interested
in David's legacy. He was interested in Joab's legacy. And that's what he came to do.
Now Shimei, he began cursing David. Now Joab began seemingly
following David and then turned away from him. Shimei, on the
other hand, he began as a rebel, but then it appeared that he
became a faithful servant. But we, according to what, David
knew what was in Shimei's heart. He showed mercy to him, but he
knew Shimei was Shimei. And he knew that Shimei was a
faithful servant, even though he didn't go after Adonijah,
but that he would in time turn against David. Even as we
see as you go further on into the chapter that he ultimately
disobeyed the one thing that Solomon told him not to do. And
therefore he brought the judgment of Solomon upon him. And so there
are those who would seek to be the followers of Christ in an
outward way. They want the benefits. In fact,
that was when I was growing up, that was really what people,
what the purpose of preaching the gospel was not really to
necessarily get people to be faithful to Christ and follow
him and do the things that he said to do. but it was just to
get a man to make a decision so that he could get his ticket
punched so that he could, you know, he'd have a free ride to
heaven regardless of what happened from that point forward in his
life. And so there was no real concern
about whether or not somebody was walking in obedience to the
things of the Lord. It was just you want to get them
in. You want to get folks converted. And so today that is a mindset
that hangs over the heads of people in multitudes of churches
that they feel like, well, because they have made this decision
or they've maybe had from time to time even some desire to do
something for the Lord. That then in turn is the same
thing as being a disciple of Christ. But it's not. Now John's writing
here to Gaius who he says, whom I love in the truth. Now why did he love Gaius in
the truth? Because Gaius loved the truth. You know, I still remember back,
and I share a lot of these things with you, I guess, from my childhood,
these things I saw. Most people, maybe I'm making
too much of a generalization, but a lot of people that I knew
as I walked, growing up in the church, and kind of seeing firsthand,
when the preacher was preaching, Of course, I have to tell you,
there wasn't a whole lot of real preaching going on, but at least
he was there, and he was opening the Bible, and he was saying
things. But you could look around, and most people wasn't really
too much interested in really being there. They were looking
out the window or cleaning their fingernails or looking at something. And you
know, you could tell most people would just wait until the preacher
said, and finally, you know, that was a wonderful thing. And
then whenever it got time to dismiss, they was hoping that
they wouldn't call on certain ones to pray, because they wanted
to get outside so they could smoke as quick as they could.
Most of them, in fact, a lot of times you'd see them, they'd
have that cigarette already in their hand so that whenever they
hit the door, they could light up. Now, smoking a cigarette
is not a sin. It's not a healthy thing to do.
It's a stupid thing to do, in my estimation. But if it's all
right to smoke it when you're outside, light up and smoke it
now. You know, I mean, what? But see,
people, they have this mind about what it is to follow the Lord. And they think that following
the Lord is coming to church, going through the motions and
doing all these things. But that's not what John's talking
about here with guys. He said, gosh, you love the truth. And I love you in the truth.
Now, what is it to love the truth? It's to love Jesus Christ. Because
he said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. To love him. Now, if we love Christ, we love
what he did for us, surely. But we love him. and we look
at the things that he taught us to do, and we love that as
well. We love the things that are spoken
about Christ, and we hate the things that are spoken that are
not true about Christ. It's not necessary. for a man
to have a complete understanding and jot and tittle of every true
doctrine that's taught in scripture. But I believe it's vitally important
that God's people believe and hold the truth as it is in Jesus
Christ. That he is the savior of sinners. that he died on Calvary's cross
to pay the sin debt of his people. And that when he poured out his
blood, he satisfied the debt that his people owed. Now that's
to believe the truth of Christ. See, that is the doctrine of
Christ. It's not that he tried to do
something and partially failed. But it said he accomplished exactly
what he came into the world to do. That's a glorious thing because
he's a triumphant savior. And John said, to the well-beloved
guys whom I love in the truth, I know that when I sit down with
guys that we have a point of fellowship that's not about some
hobby that we have. or some other interests that
we have in the world, but it's about Christ. That's the place
of our fellowship. That's the bond that we have. And you know, we've talked about
this before. There's all kinds of churches out there that are
like what I call designer churches. You got the motorcycle churches
and you got the Indian churches and the cowboy churches. And
I hope the cowboy and the Indian churches don't come to blows
with one another. But you got all these different
kind of churches. You got the Jewish churches.
You know, you got the churches that we're Jews in the flesh,
and so we're gonna have our own church over here. And you got
the black churches and the white churches, and this, that, and
the other. But, here brethren, the people
of God have one common bond. And if the bond that we have
with those who profess to be the followers of Christ is not
about Christ and him alone, not Christ and some joining up with
some particular organized body of religion, and this is more
important than Christ and him crucified alone, See, none of
the denominations of the world would ever tell you that they're
more important than Christ. They would all tell you that
Christ is most important. But, you know, if you really,
if you really want to be on the inside, you need to be a part
of this church, because we're the ones who have the truth. And if you're not joined up with
us, you can't be in the truth. Well, the truth's in Christ.
And that's the only truth I want to find. It was like B.B. Caldwell one time back during
the height of the charismatic frenzy and movement that kind
of swept over the world for a while back in my younger days. And people were getting the gifts
of the spirit and having all these external things happening. And I don't know, the Lord probably
was in some of that and some of it was just foolishness. But
it became foolish because it became an end in itself. The
Lord may come upon a man and cause him to do some strange
things. I mean, he did on the day of
Pentecost, didn't he? He may surely do that. I have
no idea. I couldn't say to a man, you
wouldn't do this or you can't do that or what of the other.
But I know this one thing. And that is that it's the truth
of Christ that bonds the people of God together. And it's Christ
alone that we're seeking. And if whatever it is that people
want us to have is not causing us to worship Christ alone in
spirit and truth, then I don't want it. And I don't want anything
to add to that. I want the pure thing. And so anyway, so B.B. Caldwell
was approached by some of these people that wanted him to get
the gift of the spirit. As if he didn't already have
it, but they figured he didn't have it because what they said
was the gift of the spirit was gonna show up in this way. And
so they came to him and they said, Brother Caldwell says you
need this. And he said, well, he said, now let me ask you boys
something. He said, is what I believe the
truth as it is in Jesus Christ? And they said, well, sure. He
said, will it get me into the presence of Christ? And they
said, well, sure. He said, that's far as I want
to go. Dear brethren, we don't need external things. I don't care what it is. What
we need is the truth of Christ. And that's what Gaius says here,
whom I love in the truth. The truth, you know, there is
not an organization in the earth that is the repository of the
truth. As much as some people want that
not to be true, no, you need to be baptized into our church
because we're walking in the truth. We got the truth. And
if you'll get baptized into our way, then buddy, you'll be walking
in the truth. No, the truth's in Christ. Whom I love in the truth. Beloved,
I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in
health, even as our soul prospers. Now you know, that's kind of
backwards to the way we pray a lot of times. We pray for people
to be healed of physical ailments, and that's an important thing.
In fact, a lot of people think that outward physical healing
is a sign that the Lord is present. And that if you have these things,
then you have the Lord's with you. And you got these signs
and wonders in all of these things. But John said, that you may prosper
and be in health, even as thy soul prosper. That is, he says,
what I want is for your soul to prosper. And then as the Lord
sees fit, cause you to have health in the body, even in the same
way. But the prosperity of the soul
is far more important than the prosperity of the body. You know,
if a man can be as healthy as a horse and have no knowledge
of Christ, then he's in a bad situation. Now, I would venture
to say that most people in the world, if they could trade between
being ill and sickly in their life, but a follower of Christ,
by nature, we would choose to be healthy. Would we not? I mean, everybody wants to be
healthy. But dear brethren, health is
a secondary blessing. Christ is a primary blessing.
And so John said, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper
and be in health as your soul prospers. That's the most important
thing. May the Lord give us a prosperity
of soul. And I believe that He does give
to his people prosperity. You know, you got these clowns
like Kenneth Copeland and others that run around with preaching
about prosperity. And what their idea of prosperity
is is that they're getting all this money. coming in, and if
you would just send them a little bit of money, you'll prove that
God is able to prosper them. And they can become billionaires
because God prospered them by them begging people to give them
money. Now to me, that's called deceit. You know, that's called False
teaching is called deception. It's called the work of the devil. Because prosperity, the only
prosperity that we desire with all of our heart is that our
soul might prosper in Christ. because all these things are
fleeting. It doesn't make a difference what you have. It's gonna one
day all be gone. You know, the older that a man
gets, by the grace of God, it's one of the blessings of old age,
is that he begins to see if he has spiritual knowledge, He comes
to say how foolish all these things in the world are. How
useless they are. What good are they? And Solomon,
he understood it. He said, you know, you get all
these things and then what happens? You leave them to somebody else. And you remember for about a
week and then, Everybody goes on about their life. You know,
all this hullabaloo about Charlie Kirk. And I love the things Charlie
Kirk stood for and that he sought to do. I think that, you know,
he did a good work. But, you know, right now, everybody's
mind is on that. Next week, it'll be back on the
football game. You know, it'll be on something
else. It'll be, you know, as great
a man as he was among men, he'll be soon forgotten. Now, I know
that he won't be totally forgotten, but in essence, you know, he'll
just fade away. I mean, think of all the people
that, you know, that's lived down through the ages. How often
do you think about George Washington? Now, I'd venture to say that
George Washington probably was a greater figure than Charlie
Kirk, not to take anything away from Charlie Kirk. But how many
times you think about George Washington or Abraham Lincoln
or Thomas Jefferson or any of those guys that did, you know,
great things as far as the country's concerned, but they fade away. And all these things perish,
but one thing that never perishes. is the truth of God in Jesus
Christ and that's what John said that he loved Gaius in the truth
because that will never pass away. Truth is always going to
be the truth. May the Lord help us.