Once again, join me in the book of 3 John. The book of 3 John, intending that this will be the last look at this book for now, at 3 John. And I call this lesson or this look at it today a good example. A good example.

And in 3 John, reading verses 9 through 14, the last half of the book here, And John says, I wrote unto the church, but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, would receive 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 forbidding 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 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.

And again, writing a letter to a church and to one, the elder, it says here, as it starts out there, Gaius, who is of also a good report, and this was, not an open letter, commentaries say it's not an open letter to believers at large, but it was a private letter to this church and stuff, but that God intended for the, obviously for the word to be to his people of all time.

And I think that this letter, as the rest of the scripture we have is written to God's people, for admonishing and learning and teaching of him. And so it may be directed as some of the other letters to a person or a particular group, but it is directed to the church, regardless of who were mentioned in the text of this.

And here it starts out, and as we read in the previous verses, see a good example, of receiving those who bring the Word, indeed of encouraging and supporting as we can the furtherance of the gospel.

Not in the start of this, this Demetrius, or diatrophies, I'm sorry, that we have, is one like we saw in Jude, and in Peter it speaks about those that are in the church unknowingly. This man doesn't appear to be hiding anything. He was just plain contrary to the gospel, contrary to those that would preach and would hear of the gospel, even to the degree here, as it says in verse 10, casting them out of the church that would do that.

And this is not a degree of misunderstanding the gospel or those things. This man has just plain not been revealed anything. This man is a a lost man in a church that was apparently in a position of some authority or some standing, in that he could cast people out of the church. That is not just somebody that doesn't quite see the truth. This is just plain contrary to the truth.

This man here, as it shows, and it goes on to verse 11 and says, Not that which is evil, but that which is good. And this is a Cain and Abel type situation here. This is not just a difference of opinion. This is a picture of one like Paul was before the Lord revealed Himself to him. Not only just contrary to what was being said there, contrary to to the believers and to the Scripture and to God Himself. This was not just another version of what is right. This is just plain-and Brother Hawker, in his commentary, said, the core of the text of these words are very self-explanatory, what it's talking about and what it says. But he mentions this man by name, and there are those, as we saw in our study in Jude, the next book, that there are those in the church that were destined to this positioned by God. This was not just something that come along. But they were there for God's purpose, however that may play out. And we see it as not a good thing that this man had anything to do with the believers there, but Being that as it may, this is the one that wanted to, it said, take the preeminence, and he wanted that position, and contrary to the preaching of the Scriptures.

In this verses 9 and 10, we have one by name that would not receive such as brought the word. Not only that, but on the contrary to receiving and encouraging the preaching of the word of God, was malicious and forbid those in that church who would be for the gospel, and cast them out of the church. Hardly what we would expect from one who was apparently an elder or possibly a pastor in the church of the living God. I put pastor in brackets and a question mark. That is not the picture of a pastor of any kind, but the on what basis, I don't know, but the commentators primarily said that this man was probably an elder or possibly a pastor, and he said a lot of the churches were not in a body that could come a little bit across town and meet, but were of quite a group that was scattered and there was likely more than one pastor that met with them in different places of the area.

But that is obviously not the heart of a pastor. And we've got teachings on that, plenty about those that are contrary to the gospel and do not take care of what they need to do. And in verse nine, it says, had loved to have the preeminence among them.

Let's turn to Matthew chapter 23. Matthew chapter 23, a thought that goes with this. And this is the Lord Himself speaking. on this very subject and describes this person that we're speaking about, chapter 23 of Matthew, verse 1, it says, "...then spake Jesus to the multitude and to His disciples, saying, The scribes and Pharisees sit at Moses' seat. "'All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, "'that observe and do, but do not ye after their works, "'for they say and do not. "'For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be born, "'and lay them on men's shoulders, "'but they themselves will not move them "'with one of their fingers. "'But all their works they do for to be seen of men, "'they make broad their phylacteries, "'and enlarge the borders of their garments. and love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.

But be ye not called Rabbi, for one is your master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth, for one is your father which is in heaven. Neither be ye called master, for one is your master, even Christ. But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant, and whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased, and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted. But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men, for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in."

And it goes on about them and about that situation. But here as one that the Lord Himself speaks about, that describes this, this deoptrophies to a T, I think, just this is what he appeared to be and wanted the uppermost. And where he says, it says, be not called rabbi for one is your master. He obviously wanted to be the master of those others. And in that position, and called no man your father." This man wanted to be all those things that the Lord is speaking about here, and master, and those that are great. And it says here, verse 12, "'Whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased, and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.'"

And there's more to those words than just, well, I'll let you go in the door before me. It has to do with the humbleness and graciousness that comes from being shown God's mercy and His grace. People will be that way. at least they'll tend to be that way. And that's the direction of going and not forbidding those, as it says here, not only do you not want to enter into the kingdom, but you try to ban those that would. And it's not a good, it's not a good, position to find yourself in, and that's for sure.

And this is to one extreme, as you would see it in a church of the lost. What the Lord says here describes this person. Geographies, like I said, this is the type of person that He appears. This is not the characteristics of one of the lords. This speaks of those who have not tasted of the grace of God. His grace to us tends to humble us and reflect at least some of His grace.

We have seen at length in the Gospel of John, as well as 1 and 2 John, the teachings on God's love to us, and ours to Him, and all the brethren. These things ought not to be so that are spoken of, and they will not be among the brethren. And I wrote here, so I wouldn't forget what I wanted to say, but if we have tasted the goodness of God in regeneration and given the new birth, we're going to tend to be humble that we would otherwise. And like I said, we'll at least reflect some of His grace.

Obviously, we fall very short of that at times, and we are not Him, but we reflect some of that, because if we have tasted that, that it's been good, we will reflect some of that back to others. There's a few other scriptures I'd like to look at that speak to this position. And leaving from this to some better thoughts, in the Psalms, Psalm 37, And let me see. Here's, in the first part of Psalm 37, we're going to look in a couple of spots, but this whole psalm deals with the blessings to God's people through Him.

It says, verse 1 of Psalm 37, Threat not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. for they shall soon be cut down like the grass and with wither as the green herb. Trust in the Lord and do good, so shalt thou dwell in the land and thou verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass."

But here, speaking about the evildoers, and as we connect it with here what we're looking at in 3 John, in that first part of 3 John there, and then down to verse This is speaking, again, of God's goodness all the way through this psalm. But verse 27, it says, Depart from evil and do good, and dwell forevermore. For the Lord loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints. They are preserved forever, but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off.

And one of the, I can't recall which one, one of the commentators on this third John speaking about diatrophies said that if this man, what a contrast between this man and Gaius or Demetrius in the end there. He said, if this is the path, he said, what a difference, and he said, barring God's intervention, this man is doomed. And there's no hope for this, barring the gospel, barring God's grace and mercy coming to him.

But to God's people, He takes us out of that. He has taken us out of what we were like by nature. And like Paul says, we're still in the flesh and we don't... come up to the level or to the perfect man that we would aspire to be, but we are given life by the one that was the perfect man, and it is that same one that sits for us for his people now.

In Isaiah, the book of Isaiah, the very first chapter of Isaiah, And we see the gospel in Isaiah. We see the gospel in all of the Scripture. But in Isaiah, in the first chapter, Here's another admonition of, and these are all things that speaks about a direction that God's people will be heading, but only because if there's been, the new birth has come about, can this even apply.

But Isaiah 1, verses 16 and 17, it says, wash you, make you clean, Put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes. Cease to do evil. Learn to do well. Seek judgment. Relieve the oppressed. Judge the fatherless. Plead for the widow." And these are things and attributes of the Lord himself. And again, we are poor reflections of those attributes.

But if we have been given the new birth, We have a different outlook. We don't have the outlook we had before. We don't have the, as we come to the scripture, we don't come the same way as we did before. It's a change. It's a rebirth. It's a new birth, as it says. And the one that was doing all the trouble here or in the book of Jude, the only answer to that is God's grace and mercy to them.

And the same answer and the same messages to the lost is the same message to God's people. That's where our hope and our trust and our faith is in Him and what He has done.

In the book of John, chapter 10, just another thought here on this same direction, Starting with verse 25, John 10, verse 25, the Lord speaking. It says, Jesus answered them, I told you and you believe not. They asked him if he was the Christ, it says, tell us plainly. In verse 25, Jesus answered them, I told you and you believe not. The works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me. But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them Me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand. I and My Father are one."

And then in verse 31 it says, "...the Jews took up stones again to stone Him." They didn't want to hear that. They didn't want to hear that they needed They needed God to interfere and intervene in their life where they were not the sheep. And he says, does the sheep hear my voice? And it says, because ye are not of my sheep. But his sheep, he says, will hear his voice. And that is the hope of the church and the hope of God's people that are lost is that they be of the sheep, that they are in that number.

And then turn the page on John to chapter 12. John chapter 12. This is just a verse here, and it's taken from this passage that the Lord is going to be crucified. But he says in verse 26, he says, If any man serve me, let him follow me, and where I am, there shall also my servant be. If any man serve me, him my father will honor." And this, obviously, this here when it's speaking about serve and follow him is, that God grant them the faith and the belief to do these things, to serve Him. And the serving isn't a work, it's setting forth the gospel that, as we've seen in the book of 1 John and 2 John, the doctrine of Christ, what the Scriptures say about the Lord Himself. And it's not serving and being in a lowly position in the church or that type of thing. That's not the service it's speaking about. It's following Him, and as the command is, to believe. And to believe in the only, we know that that is not a, it's not a we're able, nothing we're able to do. He has to cause that in us.

And then in 1 Corinthians, just a couple of thoughts in the book of 1 Corinthians along the same line of here, following the good example, and that good example is the Lord himself. But in chapter four of 1 Corinthians, let me see. Actually, 1 Corinthians 11, the first verse, it says, Be ye followers of me, even as I am also of Christ. Now, I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances as I deliver them unto you. But here, as he said, Followers of me, even as I am of Christ. That's a good example.

Gaius is a good example. This other one that we have, Demetrius, as a good, faithful follower of Christ, a good report of men and the truth, What a contrast, as you said, between the two men. This is, as I mentioned, this is, as the Cain and Abel, only two types, one that the Lord has dealt with and has given life to, and one that isn't done anything that makes them lost, as it were. That's just the natural nature of man. the lost, God doesn't, there's nothing that needs to be done for them for everlasting punishment. They're going that way, barring God intervening and changing them.

As that thought that comes about the God in having his people and redeeming his people, They're all, as it were, the dead birds laying on the ground, and God put some on the wire. He didn't knock some off the wire. They were laying on the ground dead. And barring God doing that, this frame of mind of the evil one is the frame of mind. the good report, and it says, follow them. He's got a good name, but we have to look a little higher than Demetrius or Gaius. They were good, faithful men of God, but the example to follow and the one to look to is the Lord himself. And any, I think any pastor, any one of God's people, They don't say, look at me and be like me. They're going to say, be like the one that has delivered us.

And let's look at a couple of spots. In Philippians chapter 3. All right, let's go to Philippians chapter 3. And let's start with verse here, thoughts of Paul. He talks about not being perfect, but he's looked at as already perfect in Christ. But I'd like to start in verse 14 of Philippians 3. He says, for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, let therefore as many as be perfect be thus minded, and if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing, Brethren, be ye followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us as for an example. For many of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things. For our conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself."

And Paul says, be fathers of me and mark them that walk this way as an example, and that is as it says, looking to Christ, looking to Him, and not looking to them personally, but looking to what God has done and does, and those that are commendable and of a good report of men and of the truth, and as it says here, But it speaks of those that, as this one, the bad example, but our conversation, it says, in heaven, He is the one we look to, the Lord Himself.

And then 2 Timothy, in the book of 2 Timothy, 2 Timothy, a couple of verse in chapter two. Chapter two, second Timothy, chapter two, the first few verses of that say, thou therefore my son be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou has heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also. Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Christ.

And then down to verse It speaks of those that are contrary, and then in verse 19 of that same chapter, nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal. The Lord knoweth them that are his, and let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. And again, that is not of our of our doing or our own selves that we're able to do that, and only in him can we say that we have departed from iniquity.

The sheep, what a name the sheep have of a good report. And in 1 John, it said, we are called sons by God himself, and any good name we may have is because of his good name. We are called sons of God, and His name is the name that we stand by.

And then, turn back to 1 Timothy chapter 3, 1 Timothy chapter 3, and he starts just talking about the qualifications of a bishop or different offices in the church. And I think the same qualifications and the same characteristics will be, all of God's people will have the same characteristics if indeed they have life from the same source.

And 1 Timothy 3 starting with verse 7 says, Moreover, he must have a good report of them which are without, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. Likewise, it says, must the deacons be grave, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre, holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. And so let these also first be proved. Let them use the office of a deacon being found blameless Even so must their wives be grave, not slanders, faithful in all things. Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well.

For they that have used the office of a deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree, a great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus. These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly. But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how that thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth, and without controversy great is the mystery of godliness, God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory." Now, the Spirit speaketh expressly and that the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron." And it goes on in a list of other things that are forbidden.

But these things here, there's a lot of issues and a lot of admonitions, and it's given here, it says, to bishops or deacons, but they're not held to a higher standard as far as decency in the church goes. And I think that some skip over passages because they say, well, it's not for me, I'm not in that spot.

But here, especially it talks about here that, behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. And if that be the case, there's not going to be any in there that are forbidding people to hear the gospel, and they're not going to be held up themselves as the epitome, but they're going to point to the Lord Himself.

And I think that's the point here in 3 John. It's the point of all the scriptures is that He is who is spoken of. And here, the contrast of evil and good, and obviously a good example as we title this, a good example is of the Lord Himself. And any good report that we have of the truth in the church comes from the Lord in us.

By His grace, we are what we are and not of the goodness of ourselves. And that is, I think, the point of this and the point of that to God's people. He is able and He is the one that brings these about, and it's not of our doing. So look to the good example in our Lord.

looking to Jesus, okay? And with that, we're gonna close the book on 3 John for this time, and thank you for your attendance, and be free.