Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening. And
now for today's program. Welcome to our program today.
I'm glad you could join us. And if you'd like to follow along
in your Bibles, I'm going to preach today from 3 John, the
third epistle that the Holy Spirit inspired the apostle John to
write. It's another short epistle, just
like 2 John, one chapter, and it follows first in the enumeration,
1, 2, and 3 John. And the title of the message
is following that which is good. Following that which is good.
Now I took the title from verse 11 of third John. Let's just
read that verse and then we'll go back and go through the chapter.
John, inspired by the spirit, encouraging true believers to
do this. He says, beloved, now that identifies
he's talking to the brethren, he's talking to believers. the
church, true Christians, beloved, follow not that which is evil,
but that which is good. And then he says, he that doeth
good is of God. You know, there's no doing good
without God. We need to understand that. And
he says, but he that doeth evil hath not seen God. Whenever I
talk about goodness and holiness and righteousness, I want people
to understand now, these things are of God. These things are
not in man by nature. And because man by nature, as
we are naturally born, we are born spiritually dead in trespasses
and sins. We are totally depraved and we
are incapable of doing good Now listen to me, don't miss
this. We are incapable of doing good
as God measures goodness. Now we can do good as man on
this earth measures goodness, but that's not how God measures
goodness. And what we see if we understand
how God measures goodness, We will come to understand, and
if he brings us to believe that, we'll come to understand why
salvation cannot be by our works, but it's by grace. And there's
an incident in the life of the Lord in His earthly walk when
a young man came to Him. I think this is recorded in Matthew
chapter 19. We call him the rich young man,
some people call him the rich young ruler. He was a religious
person. And he asked Christ this, he
said, good master, what good thing must I do to inherit or
to earn eternal life? And when the man approached Christ,
it was obvious that he did not believe that Jesus of Nazareth
was or is the Messiah, the Savior. God manifest in the flesh. So
he said, good master, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal
life? And the Lord answered him on
his own ground and he said, look, why are you calling me good?
Because there's none good, only God is good. Now, why would the
Lord answer that way? Because The Lord Jesus Christ
is definitely good. He's the embodiment of goodness.
Everything he did was good. But he asked that man, he said,
well, why are you calling me good? You see, there's none good
but God, he said. And what the Lord is doing there,
he's showing the man, if you don't believe that I'm the Messiah,
if you don't believe that I'm God manifest in the flesh, why
are you calling me good? But then the Lord hit him right
in the ideas, his ideas here, hit him
right where they lie. And he said, well, if you want
to earn or gain eternal life, keep the commandments. And the
man thought, well, he said, well, which, you know, which commandments
should I keep? And the Lord read him the second
table of the Mosaic law, which is man's relationship to man. And the man answered the Lord
and said, well, I've kept those from my youth up. So the Lord
put him to the test. Well, let's see. He says, go
sell everything you have, give it to the poor and follow me. And the man went away sorrowful.
The Bible says, for he had much goods. He had much riches. Well,
what is the point of that whole thing? What the Lord was trying
to show this man is this, you cannot inherit or gain or earn
eternal life by keeping the law. And the reason is because your
law keeping isn't good enough to earn salvation. You see, salvation
can only come on the basis of the perfection of righteousness. required by the law, but found
only in the glorious person and the finished work of Christ. Compared to Christ, do we have
any goodness? And the answer is no. And what
goodness we have in human terms is not good enough to earn or
gain salvation. That's why By grace you are saved
through faith, that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. Do you understand that? So when
we speak of doing good, believers doing good, we have to understand
that that goodness is not of themselves, but it's of God. It's the work of God in us, we
might say. So doing that which is good.
But now, in third John, John is speaking of a particular issue
that has to do with the receiving of brethren in the Lord. So let's
go back to verse one. We'll read through this. It won't
take too long. He says, in verse one, he says, the elder, that's
himself, John, unto the well-beloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth. Now this person, Gaius, we don't
know exactly who he is, that name is used elsewhere, but he
was a man in a particular church, local body of believers, whom
John knew, and he's writing to this. Maybe this man was a pastor,
maybe he was a deacon, I don't know. Maybe he was an elder.
but John's writing to the beloved Gaius whom he loved in the truth.
And we've talked so much about that. I went through 1 John and
went through 2 John, love and truth, the fellowship of truth
and love and the fellowship of truth. All fellowship, all the
unity of brethren is based upon the truth. The doctrine of Christ,
remember last week I preached on this in verse nine of 2 John. Whosoever transgresses and abides
not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. He that abideth
in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the
Son. There's the ground of fellowship. So if a person comes to you claiming
to be a Christian, claiming to be a brother or sister in Christ
and they don't believe the doctrine of Christ, the doctrine of his
glorious person, the doctrine of his finished work, they're
not a brother in Christ or a sister in Christ. And so he speaks to
Gaius, he writes to Gaius as a true brother in Christ. And
in verse two of third John, he says, beloved, I wish or I pray
above all things, that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even
as thy soul prospereth. Now, a lot of false preachers
today take verses like this out of context and preach what we
call the health and wealth gospel. And they indicate in some form
or fashion or degree that if you're a true believer and you're
doing what's right, then you're going to be healthy, you're going
to be wealthy, you're gonna receive, as one false preacher said, the
best life now. And that's not what John's saying
here. He does pray for their health. He prays for their prospering. And he says, I pray that you
prosper and be in health just as your soul prospereth. Well, how does the soul prosper?
That's talking about eternal life. You see, we who are in
Christ are perfectly well, perfectly healthy, spiritually speaking,
in Him. We have His blood to wash us
clean from the disease of sin. That's a judicial matter. Sins
cannot be charged to us. We're still sinners. In some
ways, we're still sin sick, you could say, because we have a
warfare within. The remaining contamination of
the flesh. Paul spoke of that in Romans
chapter seven. But our souls are secure in Christ. And we're perfectly healthy in
Christ. We have his righteousness imputed to us. And our sins cannot
be charged to us. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. And
then in Christ, we have an inheritance, the riches of His glory and grace
that we cannot even begin to count. So our souls are healthy
and we prosper in Christ by the grace of God. We are complete
in Him. That's what the scripture says.
And then John writes, he said, well, I pray that you prosper
and be in health, just like that. There's nothing wrong with us
praying for our brethren to be healthy. If somebody gets a terminal
illness, we pray, Lord, please spare this person, heal this
person, if it be your will. And that's really the codicil
of all prayer. Lord, thy will be done. And if
they're truly a brother or sister in Christ, their death will be
a passage into life everlasting. And so, but we pray for them.
We pray that they'll prosper. If one of my brothers or sisters
begins, starts a new business, I pray that it's successful.
Pray for their wealth. But I'm not gonna tell them that
if they will do right and be sincere or whatever, if they
do this, that, or the other, then they will be healthy and
they will be wealthy. I'm not gonna do that, because
that's a lie. That is a lie. And I've had people
argue with me over it, but that's, listen, the health, you know,
they'll go back to, false preachers will go back to Isaiah 53, where
it talks about by his stripes, we are healed, and they'll apply
that to physical health, physical healing, and that's a lie. That's
talking about spiritual healing. By His strife, by His death,
we're healed from the condemnation and the domination of sin in
the sense that we look to Christ as the author and finisher of
our faith. We plead His blood and His righteousness. So understand
that. We'll look at verse three. Third
John, verse three, for I rejoiced greatly when the brethren came
and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest
in the truth. Now there's the issue. Verse
four, he says, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children
walk in truth. Why does John call them his children? Listen, not because he's trying
to set himself up as the father as if he is God the father. There's
only one father, and that's God. There's only one high king and
lord, and that's God. But John was their father in
the sense that he was the one who first preached the gospel
to them. Like Paul calls Timothy his son
in the faith. And so he's just saying, I have
a special relationship and I rejoice when my children walk in truth. You know, you could say, well,
I rejoice when I see my children or my brethren being charitable,
giving money to the poor, helping the sick, all that. But the issue
here is the truth. Because if they're not walking
in the truth, all of that other, though it may help man in this
life, is not for any eternal good or any spiritual good. You know, there have been atheists
who have been very generous with money given to the poor. Philanthropists. And that's a good thing as we
measure goodness here. But it's of no eternal consequence
to them as far as eternal life. Because my friend, there's only
life in Christ who is the truth. He said, I am the way, the truth,
and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. Look at verse five. He says,
Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the
brethren and to strangers. Now, the reason he makes a distinction
between brethren and strangers is this. He's talking about brethren
in the Lord whom they knew who were members of that local body
and strangers who are true brethren in Christ but who they didn't
know, they hadn't met yet. And he says in verse six, these
strangers which have borne witness of thy charity before the church,
these are men and women who came to them and they brought with
them the doctrine of Christ. Remember back up in 2 John, he
says in verse 10 of 2 John, if there come any unto you and bring
not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither
bid him God's speed. For he that bid him God's speed
is a partaker of his evil deeds. But if any come to you bringing
this doctrine, that's who he's talking about in 3 John. They
do bring the doctrine. They abide in the doctrine of
Christ. They believe the gospel. Their salvation and their justification
is based upon the same ground as ours, the imputed righteousness
of Christ by the grace of God. They understand that the glorious
person in the finished work of Christ, who he is and what he
did, why he did it, where he is now. And he says, they born
witness of your charity. your hospitality towards them,
your fellowship with them. And it says in verse six, whom
if thou bring forward on their journey after a godly sort or
worthy of God, thou shalt do well. Now this is what he's talking
about when he talks about follow that which is good. In other
words, here comes these people from John, preachers, evangelists,
missionaries. And they come to you seeking
fellowship and seeking support. Well, what are you gonna do?
How do you know whether or not to support them, to have fellowship?
What do they believe? What is their doctrine? Oh, I
tell you, I get emails from people overseas in foreign countries.
They'll read our website and they'll tell me they believe
the same thing we do. And I begin to ask them questions.
And they normally don't like that. They don't like to be questioned. Well, my friend, the word of
God commands us to test the spirits, to question them. And it didn't
take very long, but I found out that they really do not believe
what we believe as true believers. And I cannot support them. But
once in a while, by the grace of God, and it's a miracle of
God's grace, I run into somebody who really does believe this
gospel. and I receive them as brethren and I'll help them if
I can, whether it's financially or prayerfully, whatever. And
so that's doing well. Now that doesn't mean that my
well-doing is perfect because it's not. It doesn't mean that
my well-doing or my doing good there is my righteousness before
God, it's not. The only perfection that I can
lay claim to is the perfection of righteousness that I find
in Christ and Him alone. He is my righteousness. My works,
my doing good, my doing well is not my righteousness. It does
not earn anything with God. It simply testifies of God's
goodness and power and grace in my life. And so in verse seven,
it says, these strangers, they come to you and you bring them
forward on their journey after a godly sort, worthy of God. In other words, you're not supporting
a false gospel. You're not supporting false brethren,
but you're supporting the glory of God. which these are preaching
or supporting or promoting. And he says in verse seven, because
that for his namesake, they went forth taking nothing of the Gentiles.
Now, you got to understand when he speaks of Gentiles here, the
gospel is really beginning to go out into the Gentile world. And these Gentiles were unbelievers.
Now there are believing Gentiles at this time. But what John is
saying here is that they came to brethren seeking support and
because they didn't seek support from unbelievers. That's what
he's saying. They weren't depending on unbelievers,
ungodly people. And then verse eight, he says,
we therefore ought to receive such that we might be fellow
helpers to the truth. In promoting and supporting these
true preachers and missionaries and evangelists and brethren,
we're fellow helpers to the truth. We're promoting the gospel of
God's grace, and that's what we want to do. And that's the
opposite of what John wrote in 2 John verse 11. When an unbeliever
comes, claiming to be Christian now, deceptive, antichrist, He
says, if you bid him Godspeed, you're a partaker of his evil
deeds. But when someone comes to you bringing the doctrine
of Christ, preaching grace, sovereign grace, God's free and sovereign
grace in and by the person and work of Christ, his righteousness
alone, his blood, his death, burial and resurrection, which
is the satisfaction to God's justice, the establishment of
righteousness by which God justifies a sinner. and wherein we have
received by God-given faith. When a person comes along preaching
that and we support them, then we're fellow helpers in the truth. Isn't that a blessing? It's a
blessing to help those who are brothers and sisters in Christ.
And I'll tell you what, they're getting scarcer and scarcer.
There's much false religion, much deception, much of Antichrist
already present in this world. John said it was even present
in his day, that spirit of Antichrist, which has to do with people who
claim to be Christian, claim to believe in Christ, but they
deny the truth, the truth of his person and or the truth of
his finished work. And we gotta be on our guard.
Now, he turns to a problem in this group. And it's a problem
of a man named Diotrephes. Look at verse nine. He said,
I wrote unto the church, but Diotrephes, who loveth to have
the preeminence among them, receiveth us not. Now you understand, here's
a man in the church who wanted to have the preeminence. And
that is so common. People in religious organizations,
they want to be everything. They want to call all the shots.
They want to be looked up to. They want to be the big I, and
everybody else the little you. And this Diotrephes was like
that. And as Gaius and the believers would receive these brethren,
Diotrephes would not receive them. He rejected them. And so John says in verse 10,
wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds, which he
doeth, prating against us with malicious words. In other words,
he criticizes and tells lies. And not content therewith, he
writes, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth
them that would and casteth them out of the church. This is how
bad it got. I don't know who this Diotrephes was, but he must
have held a lot of sway over the people because he says he
wouldn't receive the brethren. And then he rejected anybody
who would receive them and even cast them out of the church.
Now, listen, when we think of the church, we can think of the
church universal, which is all believers everywhere in all generations. not just one denominator, but
all true believers who abide in the doctrine of Christ. But
in the local church, and I think this is what this is saying here,
that diatrophies was casting them out of that local body of
believers. And so in verse 11, John writes,
3 John 11, beloved, follow not that which is evil. Don't follow
diatrophies. Don't do what he's doing. Don't
reject the brethren. Don't pray against them, babble
against them. Don't tell lies and criticize. But you follow that which is
good. Follow what Gaius is doing. Follow
those who receive the brethren, support the brethren. He that
doeth good is of God. Diotrephes is not of God. Diotrephes
is of himself. He's a false, false believer. He claims to believe the gospel.
He claims to love Christ and the brethren, but he's not. Don't follow him. But he that
doeth evil hath not seen God. Diotrephes had not seen God.
And it was all because of his ego. He wanted to have the preeminence. And then John concludes this
third letter. He says, he mentions a man named
Demetrius in verse 12. Hath good report of all, all
men, and of the truth itself. Here's another brother named
Demetrius. That's a Greek name. So is Gaius for that mount. And
he says, yea, and we also bear record, and you know that our
record is true. And then he says in verse 13,
I had many things to write, but I will not with ink and pen write
unto you. Verse 14, 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. So he concludes this with a positive
note. But John, in being the elder,
the apostle, he speaks the truth because he's speaking the word
of God, but he doesn't hold back on these problems. The apostle
Paul was like that. You can read the book of 1 Corinthians
and 2 Corinthians, the book of Galatians. Whenever there was
a problem, and there's some problems that are more serious than others,
he addressed them. But this issue is simply that
follow that which is good. Don't let your own egos get in
the way. Christ is the head of the church. Christ is the foundation of the
church. Christ is the heart and the power
and the righteousness and the goodness of the church. We preach
Christ. And it's just like John the Baptist
said, let's preach Christ and get out of the way. That's basically
what he said. I'm just a voice crying in the
wilderness. Do that which is good. All right, I hope you'll
join us next week for another message from God's word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
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today and may the Lord be with you.