Let's open our Bibles again to
the third epistle of John. I've entitled the message this
morning, Four People That We Meet at Church. I probably could
have entitled it, Fellow Helpers to the Truth. But I chose the
title because there are four different people mentioned in
this short epistle. And they all represent four different
kinds of people that we meet at church. Now when I say we
meet these people at church, I don't necessarily mean that
all four of them are in the church of God, in the body of Christ. Although they may be, they may
be. One of them we'll see has a very bad attitude, but a believer
can have a very bad attitude for a time. So these all could
be believers, maybe they're not, but we definitely meet all four
of these people at the local assembly, the local church. And
all of us are going to see ourselves this morning. We're going to
see ourselves in one or maybe more of these people. And I want
us to look at all four of them and consider them so we can strive
to learn something about the grace of God. We can strive to
learn something about the grace of God in the hearts of his people.
And we can strive to follow the better examples that are given
here. Now, first, the first person we meet is the pastor and elders. I want to give you some characteristics
about God's pastors and elders. Number one, God's pastors and
elders are to be humble men. They have to be humble men. Verse
one, the elder under the well-beloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth.
And you know, who's writing this letter is the apostle John. John
is an apostle. John had such a close, intimate
relationship with the Savior. He leaned his head upon his chest. They were so close and intimate
with one another. He saw the Lord Jesus in the
flesh. Christ himself gave John his
gospel. John didn't learn his gospel
from a man. He learned it from the Savior himself. And these
apostles had special gifts to go preaching and there's proofs
of their apostleship. They had a special authority
in the church. But you know, you almost never
see one of these 12 men calling themselves an apostle. The apostle
Paul did when he was forced to defend his apostleship, wasn't
he? But otherwise, what do they always call themselves? They
call themselves, we're a servant. I'm your servant. I'm a servant
of Christ. I'm your servant, for Christ's
sake. These men, they called themselves servants. Here, John
calls himself an elder. Maybe Gaius was an elder. He's
not putting himself above any of them. He says, I'm an elder.
Now, there are only 12 apostles. There are no apostles today.
Like I said, to be an apostle, you had to get your gospel straight
from the Lord Jesus. And you had to see him in the
flesh. I saw a man recently, he was writing, he had, he referred
to one of his friends as apostle so-and-so. I thought, what? I
went back and read it again. He's referring to one of his
friends as an apostle. No, that's not so. That man's
a liar. I promise you he has not seen
the Lord Jesus in the flesh. He did not get his gospel. I
read something about what he preaches. He did not get his
gospel from the Lord. But second of all, that is so
full of pride. Oh my goodness. One of the best
indicators you can have, a man's not an apostle, is if he goes
around calling himself one. That's a very good indication.
God's servants have to be humble men. You can only serve God in
humility. I can only serve you in humility.
God's pastors are humble men. Second, God's pastors are loving
men. John says, he's writing to the
well-beloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth. John clearly loves
this man, Gaius. And that's the way God's pastors
are. They're loving men. God's pastors, first of all,
love the Lord. And if we love the Lord, I'll
tell you what we'll do. We'll always be faithful to preach
only Christ. If we love him, that's what we'll
preach. God's pastors love God's people. You know, a real good
indication I love you is if I'll be faithful to preach Christ.
preach to you the sincere milk of the word, so you may grow
thereby." That's the way you can tell there's no enemy. And
God's pastors love all men. So, they're going to be faithful
to always preach Christ to all men. Believer and unbeliever
alike, because that's the only way anybody's going to be saved,
is through the preaching of Christ. God's pastors love the Lord.
And God's pastors truly care, and they love both the soul and
the body. because he loves you. Verse two,
John says, beloved, I wish I pray above all things that thou mayest
prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prosper. Now this
is one thing Brother Henry told me one time. I've always kept
it in mind. He said, God's pastors are in the people business. We're
in the people business. We're on the trail of God's sheep.
We're preaching to people. We're ministering to people.
And I think you know this, my greatest concern is for your
soul. That's my greatest concern. It's
my prayer every day for the good of your soul. But this is also
true, I care greatly about your body, greatly. That's what John's
saying here. He's not saying, Gaius, I pray
above everything else that you have good health and your body
you know, prospers and things. He's not saying, he's not putting
the good of his body above his soul. He's not saying that at
all. What he's saying is, I know God's prospered your soul. I
see that. I know he has. And what I'm praying
is, is that God will bless you and prosper your body just as
much as he's blessed your soul. And that's, that's why I feel
for you. I want to know what's going on
with you. When you're going through something
awful, don't keep it a secret from me. I want to know. I want
to know about your sicknesses, about your joys, about your sorrows,
about your happinesses, because God's pastors care about God's
people. They love them. And I can tell
you from the heart, I love you. I want to know. And this is something
else that's worth noting. You know, oftentimes when we
pray, we feel a little guilty about praying for physical things. We just feel like, well, that's
just not nearly important as all the spiritual blessings I
have in Christ. But there is nothing wrong with
praying for physical health. Here under inspiration of the
Holy Spirit, John did that. He prayed for the physical health
of this one that he loved. And I grant you, it's not the
most important blessing. We're all going to lose our health
and die someday. But there's nothing wrong with praying for
physical health. There's nothing wrong with desiring
to see those that we love in him. There's something else,
a person who feels good, has got some strength about them,
you know, they can do things in service for the church and
for others that somebody, you know, with bad health can't do.
There's nothing wrong with praying for good health for those that
we love. Thirdly, the greatest desire of God's pastors is to
see God's Savior's people. That's our purpose to be. Preach
the gospel so that God will save his people, because this is the
means that God uses to save his people. It's the preaching of
Christ. And because that's true, God's pastors have great joy
to see people walking in the truth, because when they walk
in truth and love, they give evidence of genuine saving faith.
Verse three, for I rejoiced greatly when the brethren came and testified
of the truth that's in me, even as thou walkest in the truth.
I have no greater joy than to hear my children walk in truth.
Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the
brethren and the strangers, which have borne witness of thy charity
before the church. Whom wilt thou bring forward
on their journey after a godly sword? Thou doest well. I'll
tell you what John's writing about here. Some of the elders
or traveling preachers, would go out and they'd be itinerant
preachers, going around preaching in different cities, spreading
the gospel. And these men came to the town
where this man Gaius lived. And Gaius showed them such wonderful
hospitality. And they came back to John, they
just bragged about this man Gaius, how hospitable and warm and loving
he was to them. They could tell that Gaius loved
the Lord. You know how? Because of the
love and care he showed to the body to those men who were preaching
his gospel. And that's how you and I can
walk in faith and love. It's by showing love and care
and concern, taking care of each other. That's how we show that
we're walking in faith and love. And John had such great joy in
that because that walking in faith, walking in love is such
good evidence of a work of grace in the heart. And that was his
primary concern. He had such joy in that. Fourthly,
God's pastors do not desire money from you. They don't desire anything
from you. What they desire is to draw you
to Christ, verse seven. Because that for his name's sake
they went forth, taking nothing of the Gentiles. These itinerant
preachers, they went out preaching, and when they went preaching,
they didn't ask for anything from the Gentiles. They didn't
ask the Gentiles to give them anything. All they wanted those
Gentile unbelievers to do is listen to the gospel of Christ.
And they pray the Lord, give them faith to believe it. They
didn't care about getting anything from them because they knew the
church would supply their Lord. The Lord would provide for them,
but the Lord would use the generosity of the church to supply their
needs. Now, you know, the church is to support the pastor or to
support missionaries or to support the gospel wherever we can. We're
to support each other. And the only means of support
that most pastors have is the generosity of giving through
the church. God's pastors are not fundraisers. They're preachers. God's pastor
is not there seeking money to tell you what they're doing every
day. They're seeking a message from the Lord to give to you.
That's God's pastor. That the church is to support
the pastor so he can give his time to prayer and study and
preparing to preach. And I should never go unsaid
how thankful I am for you all. You all do that so well, I'm
thankful for you. I thank God for you. Because
you do that, I can give all of my time to prayer and study and
preparing to preach. You know, if I had to go get
a job and earn enough money to buy groceries and pay utilities
and stuff, and then come home and study, on Sunday, Wednesday,
I might have Might have a few pages of notes, but it wouldn't
be very good. Because of your generosity, because of the heart
that Lord's given you, I can give myself to the ministry and
I'm so thankful. And it is my fervent prayer that
you benefit from that because the greatest desire of God's
servant is that you know Christ. I honestly do not care if you
forget my name before you get out the door. What I care about
is that you know the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that you
believe Him, that you come to Him. God's pastors come to you
just like these men did, John said. They come in Christ's name,
not begging for money, not seeking to get anything from you. They
come to you in Christ's name, preaching the name of Christ.
Because if you know that name, you'll be saved. And then lastly,
God's pastors are faithful. Verse 13. John said, I had many
things to write. I was going to write a real long
letter, but I will not with ink and pen write unto thee. But
I trust that I shall shortly see thee, and we shall speak
face to face. Now, everybody that I read about
this says John is over, certainly he's over 90 at this time. Most
all the writers say John's over 100 years old when he's writing
this letter. Yet the Lord's given him still
enough strength. He's given him mind enough and
ability enough. to keep being able to serve God.
And this old, old man is faithful. He hasn't quit. He hasn't quit teaching. He hasn't
quit traveling and going places where the Lord's given him the
strength to be able to do it. Because that's what God's called
him to do. God's called on him to feed the sheep. God's called
on him to be faithful. And that's what John speaks,
faithful to do what he can do in the service of Christ. We
meet in the church because pastors and elders. The second person
we meet at church is Gaius. Gaius was a man well known for
his hospitality and his generosity. These itinerant preachers, they
came through town where Gaius lived. And Gaius, I tell you
what, he took care of them. Gaius said, he heard him preach.
He said, you fellas got a place to stay? He said, yeah, we got
a room down here at the inn. He said, oh, no, you don't. You come stay
at my house. He said, I got a bed for you.
He said, we'll put you up. He opened his home to him. Gaius
said, let's go get something to eat. They went and ate. Gaius
probably came home. His wife probably fixed him a
meal. And they sat together and ate in fellowship together. He
opened his heart to him. Gaius said, now where are you
boys going? Where are you traveling to next? who cost him money to
get there. He gave him enough money to make
sure they could at least get to their next stop. He opened
his wallet to him. And you know, Gaius was known
for doing that for strangers, but for the brethren there in
town, too. Look at verse 5. John says, Beloved,
thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren and
to strangers. Gaius washed out for the needs
of that church family there in his town, too. I told you this
a week or two ago. You want to know how to treat
one another? You want to know how to try to help take care
of one another's needs and show the kind of love that we should
one to another? Just treat one another like a visiting preacher.
That's how we all treat one another. That's what Gaius did. Those
brethren there in town, he opened his home and his wallet and his
heart to them too. Somebody needed something done
around the house. Maybe there's an elderly couple. They don't
have the ability to do things around the house anymore. You
want to fix something? Gaius went and did it. Somebody,
they were lonely. They needed some fellowship.
Gaius went and visited. Somebody needed some money for
food. Maybe they couldn't pay a utility bill. Gaius paid it. Gave him his wallet because he
loved him. And these traveling preachers
were so impressed with Gaius. with Gaius's generous and giving
spirit, his gracious spirit. When they went back to John,
they bragged about him. Oh, this man was so gracious
and kind to us. That's what John's talking about
in verse three. He said, For I rejoiced greatly when the brethren
came and testified of the truth that's in thee, even as thou
walkest in the truth. In verse six, he said, These
men have borne witness of thy charity before the church, who
if thou bring forward on their journey after a godly sword,
Thou shalt do well. Now, Eric, you've gone to some
different cities preaching. In every city you've gone, you
know who Gayus is, don't you? And oh, you're so thankful for
them. Oh, they feed you lunch. They just send you with whatever
you need to go on your way. We went to a wedding yesterday. One of the dear sisters there
at the church at Collegeville got married. And Jan and I were
talking about the brethren there at Cottagefield. We were driving
up there. And there's a woman there, Linda
Dodson. A never-visiting preacher goes there invariably. They have
a church dinner afterwards. With my soul, they killed a fatted
cat. We go up there, Jan and I said,
we're not going to eat too much this time. We always do. This
is tough. You're getting ready to leave.
And you know what Linda does? She brings two plates covered
up with saran wrap. She says, here's a plate for
you and a plate for Jan, so Jan don't have to cook when you get
home. You got something to eat. You better take you some Pepsis
and some water. You need a cup of coffee. You
know, you might get sleepy. Let me get you a cup of coffee.
Here, why don't I fix you a sandwich? You know, you might get hungry
before you get home. Linda, I'm not going to eat until tomorrow.
He's probably stuck. That's Gaius. That's Gaius. I've heard that same thing about
so many of you. And I'm so thankful for you.
Visiting preachers and other visitors come through town. I
know just how John felt when he heard about Gaius. I thank
God for you. And all of us should strive to
be just like Gaius. You know, there doesn't just
have to be one in a congregation. Hopefully a congregation full
of them. Don't leave the work and the blessing of hospitality
and giving to somebody else Let's all strive to do what we can
for one another. Life's tough. Life's tough. I remember, Earl, when you and
I worked together, you'd always treat people so kindly, and you'd
say, you just don't know what they're going through. Life's
tough. Maybe I'd give them just a kind word. That's Gaines. That's what we ought to do. We
ought to strive to do anything we can. to help support this
ministry. Money, but with any other talent
God's given you, we should strive to support this ministry. We
should strive to support missionaries in the gospel wherever it's preached.
There's a couple of reasons for that. Number one, because this
attitude is a godly sort. It's worthy of God. See that
in verse six, after a godly sort, the center reference says, Gaius,
that's worthy of God. That attitude is public. Every
believer desires this one thing. We desire to be like Christ.
We desire to be like our Savior. That's the example we have of
Gaius. Gaius was a faithful man. John said, whatever you do to
the brethren, you faithfully do it. Gaius was faithful to
Christ. He was faithful to do what he
could to help the brethren. That's a Christlike attitude.
Our Savior, came to this earth for the work that the Father
gave Him to do. Aren't you thankful He faithfully
did it? He faithfully did everything
that was required to redeem His people. They needed an obedience,
but they couldn't obey anything. They couldn't obey the first
jot of the law. He was faithful to keep it all
for them, to give them an obedience. Their sin had to be put away,
but they could never put it away. So he faithfully went to the
cross and willingly sacrificed himself to put away the sins
of his people. He's faithful to do the work
of redemption. The faithfulness of Christ our
Savior makes us want to be faithful, doesn't it? Gaius, he was known
to be a loving man, and that's worthy of Christ. That's a godlike
attitude. Gaius showed his love for Christ
by serving the body of Christ, serving the other believers,
doing what he could for them. Gaius showed his love for the
Father and he showed his love for the people. And that's a
Christ-like attitude. Christ came to this earth and
he showed his love for the Father. He glorified his Father and obeyed
his Father in all things. And he showed his love for his
people. He showed his love for the elect
that God gave him by giving his life to the deities. That's the
greatest act of love man knows about. Herein is love. Not that
we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the
propitiation for our sins. The love of Christ our Savior
makes us want to be a loving people. Then Gaius was known
to be a generous man. He gave whatever he could to
help his brothers and his sisters. He gave whatever he could to
help the cause of Christ. That's a Christ-like attitude.
Christ, our Savior, freely gives his people everything they need. Gives it to them freely. We need
the forgiveness of sin. How we need our sin forgiven?
Christ freely forgives. We need righteousness. We need
right. If we're going to stand before God, we've got to be holy.
Right. Not only does he give his people
a righteousness, he is a righteousness freely given. We're dead in sin,
we need eternal life. He freely gives it. We need his
presence. He freely gives it. He said,
I don't care what happens. I'll never leave you. I'll never
take my presence from you. Christ our Savior has so freely
and generously given us everything we have. Does that make you want
to be generous with what God's given you? We ought to strive
to be like Gaius because this is a godly attitude. But secondly,
we should all strive to be like Gaius because when we do these
things, we're fellow helpers to the truth. Verse 8. We therefore
ought to receive such that we might be fellow helpers to the
truth. John said, Gaius, when you received
these men, come through town preaching, you were a fellow
helper to the truth. Now, every believer is not a
preacher. Matter of fact, as a percentage,
very few believers are preachers, aren't they? But yet, every believer's
a preacher. Every believer, 100% of us, are
in the ministry. That's right. When we give, to
support the ministry. You become fellow helpers to
the truth. When you pray, I tell you all
the time how I covet your prayers. I wish more than anything you
pray for me that God strengthen me and uphold me, that he give
me the message, that he give me understanding, that he give
me wisdom. When you do that, you're fellow helpers to the
truth. When you pray for one another, when you pray Let's
save our children, not just mine, but somebody else's, that you
bless this family or this family, your fellow helpers to the truth.
When you give to support your pastor, so I give my time to
all the work of the ministry, your fellow helpers to the truth,
you're helping the gospel be preached. That's an honor, isn't
it? When you give to support the
radio program, when you give to help put the messages on the
internet, your fellow helpers to the truth. That radio program,
you know, sometimes I wonder, I don't know, I don't hear much
from it, but yet last week there were three visitors here because
of the radio program. What a way to reach out to people
that don't know the gospel, to preach Christ to them. Isn't
it an honor to help in that, to be a fellow helper to the
truth? When we give to support missionaries, your fellow helpers
to the truth. Now, almost none of us can go
to Mexico and preach in Spanish. Very few of us can give our lives
to going to another country and sacrifice everything that that
is required to preach the gospel to people. We can't do that.
Provers can. Any honor to support them, to
help them in that work, to be fellow helpers to the truth.
Yesterday, I was talking to Brother D. Parks, his son of Moose and
Sandy Parks. We were talking. He teaches a
class. We were talking and visiting. And invariably, the conversation
is going to turn to his parents. And he told me how precious few
days he gets to spend with his parents every year. And I said,
D., I'm sorry. I just, I hate that. But you
understand. And I thank you. I appreciate
it. Everybody can't make a sacrifice
like that. Everybody's not willing to make
a sacrifice like that. You reckon we can sacrifice a
little bit for those who do? That's fellow helpers to the
truth. And I'll sum up the example of Gaius in this way. It's a
great blessing. Great blessing. To be able to
come on Sundays and Wednesdays and just be able to sit down
and just be fed I hope, a plain and well-prepared message on
our Lord Jesus Christ the Savior. Often, and this is the way it
ought to be, believers are just like baby birds. You know, you
just come and open your mouth and God gives you, He feeds you
with the Word and gives you a message of Christ. Gives you the sincere
milk of the Word. You don't have to work for it.
You're not like a goat up there in the rocks, you know, trying
to pick a little bit of grass out of the rocks. You're not trying
to, you know, pick some good food out of the briars. God just
feeds you. And that's the way it ought to
be. Believe me, that's the way it ought to be. Sheep ought to
just come to the pasture and feed and not worry about one
other thing. But yet this is also true. Don't always look
to only receive. This ministry needs support. This is not a one man show. This is all of us together. Let's
put our backs into this ministry in whatever way God enables you
to do. Don't just seek to know the right doctrine. I want you
to know the right doctrine. There's no salvation apart from
that. But let's also seek to have the right attitude. Let's
ask God to put that doctrine in our heart, not just in our
head. Don't just seek to know the truth.
Don't just say, I know these doctrines are true. Seek to walk
in them. Don't just seek to know about
the doctrine of God's love. You seek to be a loving person.
If you know God's love, you'll be a loving person. Don't just
seek to know the doctrine of forgiveness and all the technical
ways. You know, men love to talk about
how God forgives sin. If you know forgiveness, you
seek to be a forgiving person. Be forgiving. Don't just seek
a blessing for yourself. Seek to be a blessing to other
people. And in so doing, you're a fellow
helper to the church. That's a way that each of us
can serve on the front lines to be a fellow helper of the
truth. That's an honor, isn't it? A fellow helper of the truth.
Now, the third person we meet at church, unfortunately, is
Diotrephes, verse nine. 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, priding against us with malicious
words, and not content therewith, and not just content with that,
Neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth
them that would, and casteth them out of the church. Now,
from what we understand, John had written a different letter,
not this letter, 3 John, but another letter. He wrote it to
the church there in the town where Gaius was a member. And
Diotrephes must have been the pastor, or he's certainly a position
of authority in the church. And he refused to receive that
letter that the apostle wrote. He wouldn't receive the instruction
in the letter. He wouldn't allow it to be read
in the church. And if somebody did have fellowship
with John or did have fellowship with these men from John, Deuterophes
would cast them out of the church. Now you see what he's doing?
He's making himself the issue, not Christ. Brethren, the issue
is Christ. What think ye of Christ? Where
do you and I enter into that equation? No way. The issue is Christ. And John
knew why he was doing this. It was pride. John said he wants
to have the preeminence in the church. He wanted to be the big
boss telling everybody what to do, when to do it, and how to
do it. And you can find that attitude in the pulpit and in
the pew. So we need to watch out for that because there's
no room for pride in the family of God. Pride seeks to put us
above somebody else. That's not God's family. There's
no room for that in God's church. All of us are equal. One's not
above another. We're equal. We're equally lost
in Adam. And we're equally righteous in
Christ. We're equal in this regard. Our only hope is Christ. So we
need to hear it again. This is our great needs to hear
of Christ. There's no room for ambition
and pride in the church. And there's certainly There's
no room for pride and ambition in the pulpit, in a position
of leadership like Diocretes was. Everything the pastor does,
his heart's desire is for the glory of God and the good of
the people. Even when that comes at his own
expense. Because we don't enter into the
equation. Our ambition is for Christ. Our ambition is for his
glory and his cause. And the reason Diotrephes wouldn't
let John's letter be read, the reason he wouldn't have fellowship
with those men who came from John, is he felt like he was
in competition with John. There's the problem. We're not
in competition with one another. No, we're all fellow helpers
to the truth. Fellow helpers. We're not in
competition with each other. We're all helping each other
in the cause of Christ. Not competing with one another.
We're striving together for Christ to get the glory, not us. And
the very reason that Diotrephes went on the attack against John
is he felt like that he was in competition with him. And you
know what competition does? Always. Competition breeds contempt
for the person you're competing with. At least you went to that
game yesterday. Did you just really like seeing
somebody in a Northwestern shirt? No. Because we're competing against
each other. Competition breeds contempt.
That's the whole problem here. That's why he had such contempt
for John as he felt like he was in competition with John. And
he went on the attack against him, but he didn't have any real
charge. There was nothing real he could
charge John with. John said he's just pratting.
He's just using empty, vain words. They're malicious words. He's
maliciously attacking John. He was saying things like, oh,
you all don't want to hear that letter from John. He's a hundred
years old. John's all used up. He's gotten old. He's soft on
the gospel. Man gets old, he's just soft.
John's gone soft on the gospel. What he's doing is trying to
tear John down in order to build himself up. He just thinks, well,
you know, if I can tear John down, then there'll be more love
for me. Tell you what he wants. He wants John's place in the
hearts of the people instead of taking the time to earn them.
And that all comes from ambition, And John says, don't follow that
now. Don't follow that. That's evil. And unfortunately,
we do meet diocretes at church. Often he's a wolf in sheep's
clothing, but not always. It may be a believer with a bad
attitude. And we should beware of such people, but I'll tell
you what's more important than that. Let's not be that guy. Let's seek to be fellow helpers
to the truth. And then thankfully, there is
a fourth person we meet. Verse 12, Demetrius hath good
report of all men and of the truth itself. Yea, we also bear
record and you know that our record is true. I don't know
why the spirit brought Demetrius specifically to mind, but he
did. Apparently Demetrius, he's not
a very public person and he's not someone who preaches or teaches. He's not someone who reads the
word publicly or leads the congregation in prayer, but that's all right. That's all right. The church
is full of Demetriuses. Just full of them. Public surface
isn't for everybody. But God's church is full of men
and women like Demetrius. I tell you about Demetrius. I
feel like I kind of know him. He's a faithful man. He's faithful to be in the worship
surface. Just every look around there,
he's just faithful. He may not take a public role
in the service, but there he is in his seat every Sunday,
every Wednesday. He's got a kind word for people.
You don't know how much of an encouragement that is to the
pastor or to everybody else. You know, when Demetrius is missing,
we think, wonder where he is? He must be sick. Wonder what's
wrong? He's a faithful man. Demetrius served the Lord quietly. Just because you don't see him
doing it doesn't mean he's not. No, he does it quietly because
he wants to stay behind the scenes. And everybody doesn't know what
he does. But where would we be without him? That's Demetrius. And here's something that's very
important. Demetrius walks in the truth. That's the evidence
that we have of the work of grace in the heart. He walks in the
truth. And he walks in the truth, not just in the church building.
Not just on Sunday and Wednesday. Not just when he's around the
pastor trying to put on a good show. Not when he's just with
his brothers and sisters trying to put on a good show. But in
every aspect of his life, he walks in truth. John said, you
know that's true. Those who are of the truth itself,
they'll bear record of that. John said, I can bear record
of it. You know my record's true. Those who are in the church will
say that. But he said others do too. Others do too. In every
aspect of his life, Demetrius is a kind man. He's faithful.
He's solid. He's what we would call a good
man. Here's a good man. And everybody
knows that's true. You go down there where Demetrius
works, down there at the mill. You know what those men will
tell you? He's a good worker. I like that guy. I like to see
him coming. He's a good man. Go talk to his
neighbors. You know, his neighbors will
tell you, he's a good neighbor. He never caused us trouble. You
know, he never complained and raised a ruckus. He's a good
neighbor. I like having him as my neighbor. Go talk to the people
he does business with. They say, I like him. He's honest. You can trade with him honestly. He never comes in trying to cheat
us out of anything. He's an honest man. He walks
in the truth. John says, now don't follow that
evil example of diatrophies, but you walk in the truth. You
follow this example of walking in the truth. Don't walk in pride,
but walk after the truth, walk in the truth. When you do, you
adorn the gospel of our Savior and you'll be fellow helpers
to the truth. That's what John says in verse 11. Beloved, follow
not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth
good is of God, and he that doeth evil hath not seen God. I pray
God will give us the grace and the wisdom to follow after these
good examples, to be a help one to another, and in so doing,
be fellow helpers to the truth. All right, let's bow and pray. Father, how we thank you for
your word. We thank you for the instruction in your word, and
we thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ, the incarnate word, who's
revealed to us in the written word. Father, we pray you'd apply
your word to our hearts. that we not just be hearers,
but that we be doers. Father, we pray that you give
us faith, heart faith, heart-saving faith, not just to hear these
words, but that we might believe on the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ, that we might look to him and rest in him, that you
give us the grace and the wisdom to walk in the truth, to walk
after our Lord Jesus Christ, after a godly soul. Father, bless
your word to our hearts and to your glory we pray. For it is
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ we pray and give thanks.