All right, let's take our Bibles
and turn back to 3rd John. The Apostle John has been moved
upon by God the Spirit to write another private letter. This letter is not written to
an assembly, but it was written Like the one in 2 John, it was
written to an elect lady and her children. This letter was written to an
individual and the man's name was Gaius. And Gaius, the name,
means a Christian. That's what Gaius means, a Christian. Now it's written in a way that
is very complimentary to this brother, but as all the scripture
is written, all the glory and all the honor, all the praise
goes to the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who has eternally loved,
stood for, answered for his people, like this man Gaius, a man that
obviously the Lord had called out of spiritual darkness, given
him a heart, and he manifested it. Now we read that chapter,
and you know something, but I'd like to look at this over the
next time or two, but I'd like to look at these first four verses
of this blessed book. And as we read and consider this
blessed letter addressed to this man, just like if you'd write
a letter to somebody, you know, dear brother Henry and Doris,
they're talking to you. But God moved upon John to write
this letter, just a personal letter, and the Spirit of God
moved on John to write this in such a way that this is the infallible
Word of God. These men were fallible men,
but when they spoke, And when they wrote under the inspiration
of God's Spirit, it was infallible. That's God's Word. So here is a letter written by
a fallible man, writing infallibly to a man named Gaius that he
dearly loved. But when we look at this letter
tonight, I was telling one of the men or two, I had this message
written out. All my notes were ready and I
got to going over my notes this morning. And I got to looking
at this letter with that thought that I just told you. This is
God's Word. These are the words of the Lord. Words from the heart of the Lord
and what John is saying. What John is saying to his friend
Gaius, these are absolutely the words that the Lord Himself would
say to His people, to any of His people. God's not a respecter
of persons, so these words of John to Gaius are truly the words
of the Lord Jesus Christ. to His people, every one of His
sheep, every one that He's eternally stood for as the surety, as their
righteousness, as their redeemer, as their Lord, their God, their
husband, their representative before God. So when we look at
this, I'm going to bring out a few things that the Lord impressed
my heart with as I was going over these verses. Now, let's
listen. It's truly written by a man named
John to a man named Gaius. But I want us to also consider
these words as the words of the Lord Jesus Christ to every one
of His elect. All right, 3 John 1, verse 1. unto the well-beloved Gaius,
whom I love in the truth." Now, as I said last week, John is
probably around 100 years old now. He's an old man. And the last of the apostles,
all the other apostles have been taken home, and John alone is
left. And the Spirit of God has kept
this apostle until this day, right here, in allowing him to
behold the sustaining grace of God Almighty to his people. Now
remember, John was one of the ones who, with Peter, in John
chapter 20, the gospel of John chapter 20, after the Lord had
risen from the dead, with the disciples the first time, Thomas
wasn't there. Then seven days later he came
back and Thomas was there. And that's when Thomas said,
my Lord, my God. And after that, Peter made this
statement, I go a fishing. And you remember what happened?
He quit. He quit. I mean, he'd been with
the Lord three and a half years and went to the cross. raised from the dead, and Peter
saw him. Peter was there. And then he
makes this statement, and I tell you, before we get too hard on
Peter, I'm going to tell you something, but for the grace
of God, there's not a believer in this room that wouldn't say
the same thing and mean it. I quit. I quit. It's too much. Day in, day out,
just tiring in the gospel. Tiring and fatiguing and on and
on. I quit. I quit. I can't do this
anymore. Peter said, I go a fishing. John
said, I go with you. I'm leaving with you. John said
that. And it was John after they had
fished all night. looked over and saw the Lord
on the shore and said to Peter, it's the Lord. It's the Lord. Peter jumped in the water, went
after him. That's when the Lord later asked
him, Peter, lovest thou me more than these? Whatever he was talking
about. The other disciples? I don't
think so. The fishing boats, I think that's what he was talking
about. Do you love me more than all this other stuff? Lord, you
know I love you. He said, feed my sheep. Feed
my sheep. That John, now he's a hundred
years old. Right about, somewhere in that
area. And he's beheld the sustaining grace of God. God's kept him.
But for the grace of God, he would have left. He kept him
from the frailty of his flesh to leave. Kept him according
to the faithfulness, the true and faithful witness, the Lord
Jesus Christ himself. And in his old age, John pours
out his heart to this brother, Gaius, the elder, unto the well-beloved
Gaius, whom I love in the truth, but in your margin it probably
says this, whom I truly love. He loves him in the gospel, loves
him, but he was saying, I truly love you. I love you. I love
you. I know that John penned that,
but consider the Lord Jesus Christ as the speaker. To his people,
to all of his Gaiuses, his well-beloved, the Lord, not the elder John,
a hundred years old, but the eternal God speaking. The Ancient of Days Himself,
who is the I Am. Who shall I say sent Me? When
I go into Egypt, who shall I say sent Me? He said, you tell them
I Am that I Am. The self-existent One. The Eternal God. The One that has everlastingly
loved His people in covenant mercy and redeemed them by His
blood. I've loved you, He says, with
an everlasting love. And John writes unto his friend
and his brother, I know, but right now, just to yourself,
you that know Him, you that love Him, you that have cast yourselves
upon His mercy, asked Him to save you, kept you by power and
grace, put your name where Gaius' name is. Put your name there. The Elder, the Ancient of Days,
God Almighty, unto the well-beloved Marvin. whom I truly love, whom I love
in the truth. Put your name there. Beloved,
I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in
health even as thy soul prospereth. the desire that John had for
Gaius. Now I'm just looking at the words,
looking the words up, finding out what the words mean, and
expressing to you, based on the definition of these words, this
is what John said to his friend Gaius. He said, I pray, I wish,
I pray, this is my prayer for you, Gaius, that you prosper. Now he was talking, that word
right there actually means the road on which a man walks. It's talking about his life in
this world. He's talking about we're in this
world. God's people are not of it, but
they're in it, we're in it. And you have a job, you've got
responsibilities, you've got, there's things, you've got stuff
that is required. If you're retired, you've got
more stuff now than you had before. Things that you had, how did
I get all this stuff done? When I had a job. You've got
a job, you're never going to run out of something, you don't
want to. But he was saying, he said, Beloved, I pray above all
things that thou mayest prosper in your daily life, your social
dealings. And he said, I pray concerning
your health. And what he's talking about,
he's talking about his physical health. That's what he was talking
about. And he said, I wish above all
things that thou mayest prosper, be in health, even as thy soul
prospereth." Now, it was not that John was desiring his daily
walk in this life and his health to be above or beyond in importance
than his prospering in his soul. But he was praying, his first
desire and prayer was that Gaius' soul would prosper. And he prayed
that in the same way that your soul prospers, I pray that you
walk in this life and your health according to the Lord's will,
according to God's will, that that would prosper also. But
how precious is the accomplishment of the will of the Lord Jesus
Christ concerning His people's walk in this life. John prayed
for it. I pray, I'm asking, I'm asking
God, I'm asking God to bless you and pray that the Lord might
grant these Temporal blessing. I do. Listen, I know, you know,
you gotta eat, you gotta have a house, you need to buy gas,
you gotta buy food, you gotta have stuff. I pray God bless
you. I pray the Lord provide. I pray that the Lord bless, and
I do. And concerning your health, there's
a lot of us. We've gone through some tough trials, health-wise. Let me ask you something. Are
we sitting here right now? We're here now, aren't we? We're
right here. Somebody says, yeah, but you
don't know what I've gone through. It's not as bad as it could be.
We're here. We're right here, assembling
ourselves together. And John prayed for Gaius. He said, I pray that God bless
you. But concerning the Lord Himself,
who would be saying, beloved, I pray. Oh, here's the high priest. Here's the great high priest.
I pray, wish, above all things, thou mayest prosper and be in
health, even as I so prosper." But this is not the one to whom
John is... John's praying that God do something.
Here's the Lord Himself that can do something. Here's what
He's saying. Concerning our temporal needs,
John prayed for Gaius. I pray God meets your needs.
I pray God provides some clothes for you and something to eat.
But turn with, hold your place right there and turn with Matthew
6. Matthew chapter 6. I love this passage of scripture.
One of the earliest remembrances I have had going through a real
tough, tough, tough, tough, tough, tough, tough time years and years
and years ago. Gabe was just born, just born. Went through a tough trial. And
this passage of scripture was such a blessing. Matthew 6, 24
to 33. No man can serve two masters, for either he'll hate the one
and love the other, or else he'll hold to the one and despise the
other. You cannot serve God and this world. Therefore, I say
unto you, take no thought for your life, what you shall eat,
what you shall drink, nor yet for your body what you shall
put on. It is not the life more than
meat, the body more than raiment. Behold the fowls of the air.
They sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns,
yet your Heavenly Father feedeth them? Are you not much better
than they? Which of you, by taking thought,
can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take you thought for
raiment? Consider the lilies of the field,
how they grow. They toil not, neither do they
spin, and yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all of his
glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so
clothed the grass of the field, which today is, that tomorrow
is cast into the oven, Shall he not much more clothe you,
O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying,
What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewithal shall
we be clothed? For after all these things do
the Gentiles seek. Your heavenly Father knoweth
that you have need of all these things, but seek ye first the
kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be
added unto you. Take therefore no thought for
the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought, for the things
of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the
evil thereof. John was praying for Gaius. He's praying unto the Lord for
Gaius. Beloved, I wish above all things
that thou mayest prosper. I pray God bless you. The Lord
said to his people, don't, don't sit around and worry about that.
Your father, your heavenly father knows that you have need of all
these things. He's not going to let you go
hungry. David said, I've never seen the righteous begging bread. God takes care of His own. The
Lord said, you seek My Kingdom first. You seek first the Kingdom
of God and His righteousness. And all of those things, He said,
are going to be added unto you. Beloved, the Lord is saying,
I pray above all things that thou mayest prosper, And we shall. We shall. And then he says, and
be in health. Be in health. That Gaius, oh,
he said, I pray. Some say that Gaius was sick. The scriptures, I don't know.
I don't know his situation, but there was a reason. that the
Spirit of God moved on John to write that. And say, I'm praying
that you be in health. And I looked at it, and that's
what it actually, that's what it means. That's what it's talking
about. It's talking about health. It's talking about physical health.
But John prayed for Gaius' health. Oh, but consider him who is the
great physician. One who has been given all power. over all things, all power, heaven
and earth, that he should give eternal life to as many as the
Father has given him. Consider him who is the absolute
sovereign of this universe. Let me tell you how healthy a
believer is. Number one, he's been born again. Now, he was born dead. in trespasses
and sins. And when it pleased God, Almighty
God has given him a brand new life. A life that has been born
of incorruptible seed by the Word of God. God has made him
a new creation. Created in Christ Jesus. chosen in Him before the foundation
of the world that He should be holy, holy and without blame
before God in love. He doesn't have a stony heart
anymore. God that rules and dominates,
has dominion. No, God has removed that heart
of dominion. The presence of sin is still
there, but sin doesn't have dominion over God's people. He's given
all of us that are born from above a new heart. And we have
the mind of Christ. I read that. That's what Paul
had said in the church at Corinth. He said we have the mind of Christ. I got to looking at that today
and I think, okay, let me go back and look that up again,
Neil, and remind myself, what does that mean? You have the
mind of Christ. Here's what it means. The Lord
has given you a new heart and mind to receive his word and
believe him. That's what. How healthy are
God's people? We have new ears. We have hearing
ears. We have new eyes to behold the
glory of God. New ears to hear His voice and
eyes to see Him in His glory by faith. And then our walk in
this life. We walk in this life. We're like
the prodigal that has come home. God has given a heart. Come to
Himself. Come home. Feet shod. We walk. in the doctrine that we believe.
We walk, our feet are shod with the preparation of the gospel
of peace. And all of our needs, all of the needs of God's people,
we just read them in Matthew chapter 6, are supplied according
to His riches in glory. What do we need? Whatever we
need, the Lord's going to supply it. I can tell you that right
now. He shall supply all your needs. I didn't say wants. I
want a lot of stuff, I think. But all that I need, I'm going
to supply. I need a breath of air. He just gave it to me. You see
what I'm saying? I'm talking about needs, really needs. I
need, I need, I need him. I need. So John prayed, told
God, I'm praying for you. I pray above all things that
I may as prosper. be in health, even as thy soul
prospereth, as it prospers. Now, again, what is a soul that
prospers? What does that mean? I'm praying
that your soul prosper. Well, after looking at the wording
and everything, this is what I've come to the conclusion concerning
a prospering soul. The word prosper or prospering
in this scripture right here, actually it means to succeed
or to accomplish or reach a goal that is before. That's what the
word prosper means. It means to succeed, to be successful. And the only soul that succeeds
And in reaching the goal that Almighty God has set forth, Him,
the only soul that succeeds is the new heart, the new soul,
the new man, that new creation. So a prospering soul is first
of all, it's a new heart. Your soul that prospers, it's
active, it's active. soul. It's an alive soul. It's a heart that has been given
by the grace of God. I'll give you a new heart. I'm
going to give you a new spirit. I'm going to put a new mind in
you. I'll be your God. You'll be my people. You'll know
me. I know you. And that's what a
believer who has been given a new heart, he's got a soul that prospereth. It's continually active, it's
continually alive. The Lord has kept it, He's imparted
it, He's put it in, He's there. So here's a believer. John is
saying to Gaius, I pray that you be in health, I pray that
you prosper as your soul is prospering. That alive soul, that new heart
that Almighty God has given you. So a prospering soul is, first
of all, it's a new man. That's what it is. It's the new
man. Secondly, this prospering soul is one, I was saying, it's
active. It's alive. Now, we're born where
the heart's dead. And it does nothing toward God
Almighty. It rebels. It hates Him. The carnal mind, in me against
God. But a prospering soul is one
that follows after Christ. He's the shepherd. We're the
sheep. That's exactly what the Lord
set forth that His sheep do. He said, my sheep, here's what
a prospering soul does. It hears my voice. My sheep hear
my voice. And I know them, and they follow
me. They follow. They follow. One with a prospering heart,
one that a heart that succeeds. And obviously we know that no
success is by our ability. We know that. We wouldn't even
remotely say, I've been able to. Faithful is he that calleth
you who shall also do it. But one with a prospering heart.
It's that new man that follows Him whose voice it hears. You hear the voice of the Master. You hear the Gospel preached
and you say, you know what? That bears witness to my heart.
I believe that. I love that. It loves the Lord. This is a prospering heart. A
succeeding heart. One going to the goal. And one
that's going to reach the goal by the grace of God. He loves
the Lord that first loved him. It's a heart that grows in grace
and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior. And it waits upon
the Lord who's the shepherd of the sheep. And without fail,
When the Lord is pleased to call, like He did Matthew. Walked by
the seat of custom there, and there was Matthew, and had all
of his money, and you know, his accounts and stuff like that.
Tax collector. And the Lord said, follow me.
He just got up, walked away. He walked away from everything? No. He walked to everything.
Followed Him. Left back, left back everything
that was nothing. And then thirdly, a prospering
soul prospers only by the means of God's provision. It's a soul
that is alive. It's a soul that's active, that
follows, that hears, that loves. And thirdly, here's how it prospers. How do you prosper? You take
a physical body right here. Okay, for this body to work like
it's supposed to, for it to succeed, for it to do the right thing.
You're going to have to give it the right kind of food and
you're going to have to drink water and you're going to have
to do things for this body to... You stop doing certain things
and it's not going to work like it's supposed to. Well, a prospering
soul is the same way. There's means. God is a God of
means. And He's provided the means by
which this soul is going to prosper. Now, remember, this soul grows
in grace. How does it grow? Well, first
of all, just what we're doing right here. Hearing the Word
of the Lord. Hearing the Gospel. This Gospel
is alive. It's quick. It's powerful. And
we prosper in the Lord, an alive soul that follows after Him. But faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the Word of God. So the means of prospering in
my soul, I need to hear what God has to say. This is the only
thing that matters. And I hear the Lord. And secondly,
it's the seeking of the Lord in prayer. And when you pray,
he said, enter into your closet. That's not an option. There's
not a believer in here that is not daily, hourly, praying. Pray without ceasing. You'd be
driving down the road. Nobody knows what you're doing.
The Lord does. and you seek it, ask, knock.
Seek. Ask. It'll be open. You'll find. When you pray, go
into your closet. And He said, pray unto your Father
which is in Heaven. And the Father which is in Heaven
that hears in secret, He's going to reward you openly. So what
is the means of prospering this alive, active, what's the means
of it continuing to prosper? Hear the Word of the Lord. Seek
the Lord in prayer. And thirdly, search these Scriptures. Search the Scriptures. I encourage
you daily, daily, daily, begin your day and end your day with
God's Word before anything else. I would encourage you, get up
a few minutes early. and open the Word of God and
read what God has to say. And before you go to bed, before
you close your eyes, open up the Word and in the day, searching
the Scriptures. Like those in Berea, that's what
they did. They searched the Scriptures
daily to see if the things that they were hearing were soul.
So a believer's soul prospers. As he walks by faith, looking
to Christ alone, he is not complacent, he is not content, he is not
slow fall. He progresses, not in his sanctification. I have heard people say, we grow
in sanctification, we grow in holiness. That cannot be. How
do you grow in perfection? How do you grow? We grow in grace.
and the knowledge of our Lord, but we don't grow in holiness. We're holy in Christ. He is our
righteousness. But we grow in the knowledge
of our Lord. So John desired Gaius' daily
prosperity in this life. He did. He desired his physical
health, that he might prosper according to the same standard
that his soul prospers, which is by faith. We trust the Lord
and wait on the Lord. We believe that God orders all
these things for His glory and our good. And the Lord is the
one who grants the faith to His people by which they trust Him. So we grow. But John said, I'm
wishing these things. The Lord says, I'm the one that
provides them. Telling His people. Then verse
3, 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 were some traveling
preachers, and Lord willing when we get into these later verses,
there were some traveling preachers that had come through and had
come to the church where Gaius was. And obviously, Gaius had treated them with respect,
kindness, and generosity. They'd gone, they'd been preaching
to some other Gentile churches, is what they were. Even in verse
6 it says, because of that for his namesake they went forth
taking nothing of the Gentiles. They didn't want the Gentiles
to think that they were just doing this to make a living. We thought we might come over
for a love offering or something like that, brother. And no, they
didn't take anything. But when they came here, Gaius,
he took care of them and he fed them and he gave them some traveling
money and told them, he said, listen, I want you to know I'll
do what I can for you. And what happened after they
had their needs met and they come back, he's coming back now
and they come across John. And John hears the story about
what Gaius had done. Now John's writing back to Gaius,
and he said, I greatly rejoiced when the brethren came and testified
of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth.
Now who these preachers were, we're not told. Obviously the
Spirit of God wasn't pleased to reveal their identity, but
what they did after they left the church where Gaius was, and
came to where John was, was totally honoring to the Lord for His
sustaining grace. And it just greatly encouraged
John. John said, guys, when I heard
what you did, when I heard what you said, when I heard about
what you were doing, it just blessed my heart so much, I rejoiced
greatly. I was listening to the story
about what you did and it just greatly lifted my spirit. I greatly rejoiced. And then he said in verse 4,
I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in
truth. John said nothing makes me happier
than to hear of the faithfulness of the Lord. to keep those that
had been converted under his ministry. That's when he says,
I have no greater joy than to hear that my children, he's talking
about believers that the Lord was pleased to call out of darkness
under John's ministry. That's what he's referring to,
his children, those to whom the gospel was preached, the Spirit
of God blessed, and called them out of darkness and sealed them,
guided them, taught them, and kept them. By faith, John said,
it just thrills my heart to hear. Gaius was obviously one of the
ones that the Lord had called out under John's ministry. And
John's just writing him. He said, Gaius, it just blessed
my heart, blessed my heart to hear about what you did. Oh,
I'm so thankful for you. God's people are so generous
and gracious. And John said, I'm thankful,
but truly, God's people find no comfort or joy in themselves
or in their works. They don't. They're not looking
for the praise of men, they're just thankful unto the Lord for
His good pleasure to allow them, an unworthy sinner, to be the
means of the Lord's using in the salvation of another. But
as it thrilled John, in closing as it thrilled John to hear about
what Gaius had done. That's what he said. I just rejoiced
when the brethren that had come through there came back and told
me what you'd done for him. I just had to write you a letter
and just tell you how how thankful I am, how it blesses my heart. I just, I don't, there's no greater
joy, he says, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children,
but I want to consider here in these last few minutes the preciousness
of these blessed conversations. Now here, Gaius obviously had
a blessed conversation with those preachers that had come through,
and he told them some you know, things that he wanted to do for
them and whatever they talked about was obviously a blessing,
a blessing to them. They came back and told John
it was a blessing to him. But consider the preciousness
of a conversation between believers concerning the mercy and grace
of God that's heard by the Lord Himself. John said, I heard about
what you did and it blessed my heart. But you listen to this
passage, Malachi 3.16. Then they that feared the Lord
spake often one to another, and the Lord hearkened and heard
it. And a book of remembrance was
written before him for them that feared the Lord and that thought
upon his name. It's such an encouragement when
believers fellowship and rehearse in each other's ears the things
that the Lord has done for them. That's what the Lord, remember
that demoniac of the Gadarenes wanted to travel with the Lord
and after the Lord called him out of darkness and the Lord
said, no, I want you to go back to your home and you tell your
family what great things the Lord has done for you. That's
what I want you to do. You go tell them what I did for
you. What an encouragement when believers talk. We meet together
and we just chit-chat a little bit We speak of the grace of
Almighty God. But what a revelation and comfort
to hear how the Lord hears. And He hearkens to the conversations. That's what it said in Malachi.
They that respected feared the Lord spake often one to another.
And the Lord hearkened. Now I looked again that word
up. So important. Look these words
up. The Lord hearkened. ears were pricked up. That's
what the word hearkened. Pricking up of the ears and give
heed to what's being said. The Lord hearkened and heard. He's the one that placed that
respect and fear in the hearts to begin with. He gave them the
faith, taught them the gospel. And then those that respected
him by the grace of God spoke, not now and then. That's not
what it says. Then they that feared the Lord
spake often. You know, this is all a believer
really wants to talk about. That's all I want to talk about.
All the other stuff is fluff, you know. Let's talk about him.
Let's talk about the Lord. Those that spoke often and think
upon His name. Think, speak often of His covenant
of love, faithfulness in the person of the Lord Jesus. They
speak of His blood-shed, imputed righteousness, because He's their
life and they're found in Him. And the Scripture says concerning
out of the abundance of their heart, their mouth speaks, and
the Lord hearkens. Whenever two believers are talking
together, write this down. The Lord's listening. He's listening. He's listening. And so pleasing
are those conversations between believers to the Lord, the Scripture
declares this, a book of remembrance was written before Him for them
that feared the Lord. Now I don't know, I can't not
tell you, I don't know the depth of that. Was it a real book? I'm not saying that it was a
real book, I'm saying that the Scripture sets forth that the
Lord Himself is relating to us His unforgetfulness. of these
things concerning His mercy and grace speaking to us. And so
blessed are those that the Lord has given a prosperous soul.
So blessed are they. So blessed to have life in Christ. So blessed are they to have the
means given them that that soul would feed upon and prosper upon
their health, their spiritual health and life. So blessed are
they. that God has given them a new
heart and they speak often of him. The next verse in Malachi,
and with this I'm closing, Malachi 3.17, and they shall be mine,
those that speak often, that fear the Lord, ones that the
Lord's listening to. They shall be mine, said the
Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels. I will spare
them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. a prospering soul. What a blessing. John said, I pray above all things
that you prosper and be in health as your soul prospers. He said,
thrilled my heart to hear what you said to those preachers that
came through, how they came back and they told me about it. It
blessed me. But oh, the blessing of knowing
Him, He who made us, who's God He is to us, hears us when we
speak concerning Him, and He remembers it. May the Lord bless
these words to our hearts and to His glory. Amen.