Fellow Helpers to the Truth

Q: What does the Bible say about love and truth?

The Bible teaches that love and truth are inseparable companions in the life of believers. The Scripture emphasizes that love cannot exist in a vacuum, separate from truth. As seen in 1 John 4:7, true love is from God, and genuine love is rooted in the truth of who God is and His redemptive work in Christ. The Apostle John consistently pairs the concepts of truth and love throughout his letters, showing that where truth is present, authentic, God-honoring love follows. This interdependence reflects the character of God, who is both love and truth, establishing that true love is born of a revelation of God's truth and grace.

Q: How do we know that God's people are beloved?

Believers are referred to as beloved in Scripture, signifying their special standing and affection in God's eyes. The term 'beloved' ascribed to believers highlights their unique relationship with God, as illustrated in Romans 1:7 where Paul addresses the saints in Rome as 'beloved of God.' This affectionate designation underscores the truth that God's love for His people is unwavering and deep. For instance, when Lazarus was sick, Jesus was told, 'He whom thou lovest is sick,' illustrating the love Jesus had for him. This speaks to the assurance believers have in their identity as those who are loved by God, which fosters a sense of belonging and purpose within the community of faith.

Q: Why is the relationship between love and truth vital for Christians?

The relationship between love and truth is crucial for Christians because it reflects God's nature and fuels authentic Christian living. For Christians, understanding the relationship between love and truth is essential as both reflect the character and nature of God. As the Apostle John points out in 1 John 4:8, 'God is love,' which is intertwined with His truth, seen through Christ's sacrifice. Separating love from truth leads to confusion and a distorted understanding of God's intentions for humanity. Moreover, genuine love must arise from a clear understanding of God's truth; only then can believers genuinely express love as outlined in Scripture. When both are balanced in the believer's life, it enhances the authenticity of their witness to the world, demonstrating how they live out their faith in meaningful ways.

Q: How does prosperity relate to spiritual health according to the Bible?

The Bible indicates that spiritual health is of highest importance, and physical prosperity should follow as a blessing. The Apostle John, in his letter to Gaius, emphasizes that spiritual welfare should take precedence over physical prosperity, saying, 'I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth' (3 John 1:2). This shows that while physical health and prosperity are blessings, they are secondary to the soul's condition. Properly ordered, when one's heart is right with God, material blessings can become a means of glorifying Him and serving others. Therefore, spiritual health should be the primary concern, for it ensures that any external blessings received are seen as tools for furthering God’s kingdom instead of self-indulgence.

While I was in Mexico, the Lord was pleased to call
away from our midst a very special man, a very dear friend and brother,
whom we're going to miss greatly, Brother Roger Crawford. Roger
was here about three Sundays ago, sat down here, came in a
wheelchair, And now he's gone, and we're going to miss him greatly. All right, let's turn to the
book of 3 John. As I said, this epistle is addressed
to a beloved brother, not a pastor. Not a preacher, evidently, not
a missionary, but a man who was a friend of the preachers and
a friend of the missionaries, who was converted under the ministry
of the Elder. Look at verse 1, the Elder, John
speaking of himself there, he calls himself the Elder. I think
on account of not only his office, he was an Elder, but on account
of his age Somebody said that at this particular writing that
John was over 90 years of age, perhaps even 100. But he calls this man a beloved
man, a beloved man. I do know this, Gaius was beloved
of God, as all believers are. The Apostle Paul in 2 Thessalonians
said, we give thanks unto God for thee, beloved of the Lord.
And when word was sent to the Lord Jesus that Lazarus was sick,
the word was not, he who loves thee is sick, but the word was,
he whom thou lovest is sick. God's people are beloved of the
Lord. And this man was beloved of the Apostle. The Apostle John
loved this man, Gaius. He loved him. Their relationship
was one like Jonathan and David. He loved him in Christ, he loved
him in the truth. And this man, as we read on further,
was beloved of those who knew him. The people of the Church
and the missionaries and preachers loved him. They expressed their
their love for him to John when they talked about him. He was
a man of faith. Gaius was a man of faith. A man
who believed God. And he was a man of integrity.
And he was a man of compassion. He was interested in others.
He was not a self-centered man. He was interested in others.
And he was a man of liberality. And John calls him beloved. My
beloved Gaius. And then I want you to note carefully
the next words in verse 1. Whom I love in the truth. Whom
I love in the truth. Now the best translation of this
is whom I truly love. I have a genuine admiration and
appreciation and affection for this man. Their relationship
was sincere and genuine. But often, I want you to note
this now, this is a very important point in this message. John uses
these two words in these two epistles over and over again.
Whom I love in the truth. Truth and love. Truth and love. Truth and love. Now don't miss
this. Look back at 2 John verse 1. Second John, right up above you
there, the elder, here's John speaking again to the elect ladies,
writing to a dear lady, a dear woman who loved him and the gospel. And her children, her family,
whom I love in the truth, whom I love in the truth. And not
I only, but also all they that have known the truth love her.
For the truth saith, which dwelleth in us and shall be with us. Look
at verse 3. Grace be with you, and mercy and peace from God
the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the
Father, in truth and love." In truth and love. Here, there's
about two or three times already he's used truth and love. Truth
and love. And then verse 4 of 2 John, he
says, I rejoice greatly that I have found of thy children
walking in truth. Verse 5, And I beseech thee,
lady, Not as though I wrote a new commandment to you, this is not
new information to you, but that which we had from the beginning,
that we love one another, and this is love, that we walk in
the truth in his commandment. All the way through he talks
about truth and love. And let me tell you this, these
two words are companions that must not, cannot, and will not
be separated. Truth and love. truth, the truth
of the glory and character of God, the truth of our unworthiness
and sinfulness and inability, the truth of Christ Jesus and
his grace and righteousness and mercy, the truth of his effectual
substitutionary work, the truth of salvation by grace alone,
the truth But truth and love are companions that must not,
cannot, and will not be separated. Where you find truth, you'll
find love. And where you find genuine love,
you'll find truth. Because God is love, and only
those who know God truly love. That's right. But turn back to
1 John. 1 John 4. Now, you'll find a selfish love
and a superficial love, but where you find truth, you'll find genuine
love. It's like I said a while ago,
people say, well, if I believed what you believed, I wouldn't
even preach. That's why I do preach, because
I believe what I believe. It's the truth that motivates
us. It's the truth of God that sheds
abroad His love in our hearts and concern and compassion. Where
you find truth, you'll find love. And where you find a genuine,
unselfish, God-honoring, God-glorifying, genuine love, that love is born
of truth. That man knows the truth. He's
the only one who can love for the glory of God. Look at 1 John
4, 7. Beloved, let us love one another. For true love is of
God, and every one that loveth truly loveth. I'm not talking
about fickle. temporary, soon forgotten, easily
offended love. I'm talking about true love.
It's born of God. Everyone that can do that is
born of God and knows God, and he that can't do it doesn't know
God, for God is love. Oh, how truly blessed is that
person who has had revealed to his heart the truth, Christ Jesus.
Not a series of truths You can preach truth and not preach the
truth. The truth is Christ. A man can
be a Calvinist and not be a Christian. A man can learn the doctrines
of grace and not know the grace of the doctrine. That's exactly
right. A man can learn all the systematic
theology and have his head choked full of it. and never have the
compassion and the grace of God in his heart and the love of
Christ. Of course, Christ is the truth.
But how blessed is that man, how truly blessed is that person,
that man or woman who has had revealed to his heart the truth,
Christ Jesus, and has had that love of God
shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Spirit, true, genuine, God-honoring,
God-glorifying love and compassion. Love that beareth all things,
believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things,
and shall never end. And it never diminishes. It increases. And I'll tell you this. I am
as determined to keep these two words together. I get this. I'm as determined to keep these
two words together. as the religious world is determined
to separate them. The religious world is determined
to separate these two words. I'll give you an example. You
hear it all the time. Some say, well, the important
thing is love, love, love. Let's love each other. That love
means tolerance and emotion and sentiment and whatever men call
love. Let's love each other. It doesn't
matter what you believe, it doesn't matter what your doctrine is,
just love each other, just love, love, love. Well, that's not
true, it won't stand. Because God is God and God will
be glorified and he has exalted his word above his name. That's
what he said in Psalm 138. I've exalted my word above my
name. God's truth will be declared.
Other people say, now watch this, and let's not be guilty of this. You say, well, I'm certainly
not guilty of that first charge. I don't think the important thing
is in an emotional, sentimental tolerance called love. I think
truth. I think we ought to contend for
the faith once for all delivered to the saints, stand for the
truth. The important thing is the truth. Truth is the end and
goal of all things. Is it? Well, how does that stand in
the light of this scripture here? Though I have the gift of prophecy
and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and have all
faith so that I can move mountains and have not love, I'm nothing.
I won't stand with it. It won't stand. You see, here
is where it is. 2 John, verse 3. Here it is. Grace be with you,
mercy and peace from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and law. See what I'm
saying? In truth and law. God said, I write my law in their
minds and on their hearts. Let us be firm in truth and compassionate
in Christ. That's what he's saying about
Gaius here, the elder old John, old feeble John, writing to the
well-beloved man, Gaius, my son in the faith, whom I love in
truth. Can't have one without the other.
There's no reason to have one without the other. Love is really
born of truth. Love is a product of truth. We
love him because he first loved us. Be ye kind one to another
as God for Christ's sake hath loved you. You see, when we learn
the truth, that's when we learn to love. And if we haven't learned
to love, we haven't learned the truth rightly, have we? A truth that makes men hard,
Does truth make men hard? Christ doesn't. Now, a truth
may. Like I said, you can preach truth
and not preach the truth. You can preach a series of truths.
You can say, well, he preaches the Bible. He may do that and
still not preach Christ. You say, I'll stand for the truth.
You can do that and I'll stand for Christ. Well, I believe the
truth. You can believe that and not
believe Christ. Christ is a person. isolated fact. Facts don't save,
Christ saves. And I tell you, truth does not
produce indifference and carelessness and harshness. It doesn't do
it. It can't do it. Where the truth of God, the truth
of His love to us, the truth of His grace, the truth of His
mercy, the truth of His compassion, where it's experienced, it's
going to produce that same thing. tenderness, be kind, tender-hearted,
gentle, that's right. All right, verse 2. Beloved,
beloved guests, I wish, I pray, above all things, that thou mayest
prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. We need
to get things in their proper order, and John has it here in the proper
order. You see, success and prosperity
and good health are wonderful blessings. Wonderful blessings. Blessings from God. Success,
successful in your business, in your vocation, in your work.
Prosperity and good health are wonderful blessings. And they
can be profitable to the church when they're in the hands of
a wise man. when they're in the hands of
a generous man and a gracious woman. They can be great blessings
to the church. But our first and foremost priority
is not success, prosperity, and good health. Our first and foremost
priority is to know the Lord Jesus Christ. Whether I have
success or no success, whether I have prosperity or no prosperity,
So that's the reason John, writing to his beloved friend, said,
I hope you prosper physically, financially, and emotionally
like God's prospered that heart of yours. See what he's saying?
But the first and foremost important thing is that God's straightened
out that heart. Because if he doesn't, then your
success is going to be a mess, and your physical strength will
be won't be glorifying to God, and your good health will be
totally wasted, and nobody's going to profit by it anyway.
Church is not going to be blessed by it. But if God can make, if
God will make that heart right toward him and toward others
and toward his work, and toward the missionaries and toward those
things, the pastor and other things, then your success will
be our success. Your prosperity will be our prosperity,
and your good health will be used for the glory of God. We
get it backwards. Boy, I tell you, if God blessed
me successfully, I'd give. Start giving what you have. See
what I'm talking about? If God had blessed me physically,
you know, just give me good health, I'd be a faithful witness. Well,
you're starting at the wrong end. You start with great... Let me read you a song. I asked
the Lord. John Newton wrote this, the great
John Newton. wrote Amazing Grace, I asked
the Lord that I might grow in faith and love and every grace,
that I might more of his salvation know and seek more earnestly
his face. Now that's the place to start.
I hoped, this is what I hoped he said, I hoped that in some
favored hour at once he'd answer my request. And by his love's
constraining power, subdue my trials and give me rest. But
instead of this, he made me feel the hidden evils
of my heart. And he let the powers of the
world assault my soul and body in every part. And I said, Lord,
why is this? A trembling cried. Will thou
pursue this worm to death?" Well, it's in this way, the Lord replied,
that I answer prayer for grace and faith. So all my earthly
trials, all thy earthly trials, I employ from self and pride
to set you free and break your plans of earthly joys that you
might seek you're all not in them, but in me. Ain't that good? So if I can enjoy good health,
that's fine. Prosperity, that's fine. Well
and good. But God help me only in proportion
as he's pleased to bless my poor soul. Lord, let me wear rags,
but let me wear thy righteousness. I'd heap rather wear rags and
wear his righteousness than to wear my satin rags and not know
his righteousness. Hadn't you? Let me, Lord, if
I can enjoy prosperity and health, but I only want it in proportion,
as you please, to bless my soul with the knowledge of thyself.
And I only want these things as I'm able to turn them into
blessings toward others and for others. That's what he's talking
about. Gaius here, he knew this. He said, I wish above all things
that you may prosper and be in health as your soul prospers
because John knew that as God Almighty prospered, that man,
everybody in touch with him would be prospered. Everybody in touch
with him. but better to be afflicted and
poor than to miss his grace. I wonder if we ever learn anything
spiritually without trouble. I wonder, I really wonder if
we ever learn anything spiritually without trouble. I was thinking
the other day of a certain man that has so many gifts so much ability, and I thought, I wonder what
God's going to have to do to bring him down. Will he come
to understand that we more effectively minister for the glory of God
in humility than in pride? We more effectively minister
for the glory of God, realizing what we are and who we are and
who he is, than we do from that belligerent, arrogant, know-it-all
position. I wonder what, if he's God's,
he'll whip him. If he's God's, God will bring
him down. He may have to set his fields on fire, John, and
burn every one of them up. He may have to take the very
joy out of his bosom and kill it. He may do it, but if he's
God, God will bring him down. He'll bring him down. And that's,
I want you to prosper as your soul prospers, but if your soul
can't prosper, then let God take it away. Maybe we'll look up
when we're lying down. Right? Will it take that? Maybe we'll look up. All right,
look at verse 3 and 4. He said, I rejoiced greatly when
the brethren came to me and testified of the truth that's in you. That's
what I'm coming back from down in Mexico, telling you of the
truth down there and Milton Howard and Walter Gruber and the work
they're doing. Bill Clark, Ken Weimer, Danny Parks, these faithful
men. I've gone to all these fields.
with every one of our missionaries, in their homes, about their work,
down to the streets with them, in the marketplace, to the services,
I come to tell you about their faithfulness. And I tell them
about your faithfulness, which they know. And he said, the brethren
came and testified the truth that's in you, even as thou walkest
in the truth. I have no greater joy than to
hear that my children walk in the truth. We left here, to tell
you a little bit, about this ministry down there. We left
here last Monday, a week ago, and flew down to Medida in the
Yucatan and spent the night with Betty and Walter Gruber, and
then we got in their vehicle and drove to Villa Hermosa, spent
the night, and then drove over the mountain to where Milton
preaches. It takes eight hours from Medida
to Villa Hermosa, and then six hours over the mountain It's
only 150 miles over the mountain, but it's rugged. It's 8,000 feet
high. Very rugged, and the roads are
dangerous. I did a lot of the driving, believe me. It's more
precarious than our highways. You're driving along, and the
slide may have taken that side of the highway off, you know.
You have to be very careful all the time. Coming back, we drove
through fog and rain, and you could just see a little ways
out there, We got down to Milton's Wednesday, and he said, Do you
want to preach tonight? I said, Yeah, if you have any
services, I'll preach. And Walter will preach. So we went out to Julian, that's
a church that has a nice brick building out on a farm, and it
seats about 80 or 90 people, and it was full, just plump,
full of people. And Walter preached. in Spanish,
a good message, and then I preached in English and Milton translated.
And the people heard us well. There were a lot of visitors
there. That church has been there, Milton's been preaching there
about 14 or 15 years. So there's a lady there, her
son is 22 years old. He's studying to be an orthodontist.
He'll finish in a year, year and a half. He conducts the services
and preaches when Milton's not there. Armando is his name. Armando. Well, his mother, Marta, she's one of these elect ladies.
She's one of the keys to the ministry there. She asked us
the next night, said, will you come to my home and have dinner? You and your wife and Milt and
his wife, Walt and his wife. We told her, yes. She said, I
want you to preach to my friends and my neighbors and my relatives.
She said, now Milton said, we don't want a circus up there.
She said, I'm going to feed them all hot tamales. And he said,
we don't want a circus up there. And he turned to Mondo and he
said, now if we're going to preach, we're serious about this business,
preaching. He said, they'll be all right.
So they went up and down the roads inviting people. Now you won't believe this. When
we got up there the next night, Everybody in that community.
There was over 110, 115 people in that backyard. That backyard
was full of people. Many of whom had never, ever,
ever, ever heard a preacher open the Bible and preach the gospel.
They'd heard a priest in Latin, but they'd never heard a preacher.
I preached to people that night that never in their lives have
ever heard how God saved sinners. And they sat and listened. They'd
listen. Walter preached first in Spanish and then I preached.
I had tremendous liberty. And then she served them all.
She served 200 hot tamales. I told my class, I served the
hot gospel and she served the hot tamales. Fire up the altar. Well, the next night we went
to the ranch up there in the mountains. And we had a crowd
there. The lady there told us, that's
the sister of Marta. This is Carmelita. She and her
husband. They had the flags flying, the United States flag, the Texas
flag, the Mexican flag, and the state of Kentucky, the big blue,
flying over that ranch there. You know, she had a flag made.
And we went out to the service, and she said she had 170 paper
plates and served tamales after the service and ran out of plates.
That's how many we had there. She gathered up some of the used
ones and used them again, she said. But people from everywhere
were there. And the man who owns the ranch,
his brother, Neptali, was there. First time he'd ever attended
a service. First time he was ever there. He owns a ranch down
the road. He came and his mother came, who was staying with him.
After the service, he came up to him and he said, Walter, translate,
he said, I'm trying to learn what you're preaching. I'm trying
to learn it. My brother has talked to me about
it. I'm trying to learn it." And
I said, well, I said, I have these books in Spanish. And I
said, I'll send them to you. I'll get them from Spain and
send them to you. He said, will you? I said, yes
sir, I'll write you and I'll send you the books. And before
he left, going back to his ranch, the last thing he said to me,
don't forget my books. And then on Sunday, when we left
to go back to Chiapas, we drove by his ranch to tell him goodbye,
and before I left, he said, don't forget my books. Well, I've already
written him a letter. It's gone. And I'm ordering the
books to send him. But we had service Friday night
and Saturday night, and those people, those people love the gospel.
They love this church. They love the men and women of
this church. I want to read you a letter. If I can read without crying. This song was not written by
Milton. He had nothing to do with it. It was a total surprise
to him. Those men of that church and
ladies have a singing group. They pick a guitar and sing up
there at the ranch in the mountains. Charlie Payne has been there.
Fifteen years old. He's been there at least four
or five times and preached to those people. He's one of our
elders. Like you went, Tom, and Charlie down and preached, and
I've gone. Paul's preached down there, and
Bob Croft has preached down there. But the reason I'm reading this
about Gaius is this is what I say about you fellas. This is what
they're saying about you. This is what they're, this song
was written And when we got up to the ranch Friday and Saturday
they wanted to sing these two songs. They wrote one to me and
one to Charlie. This is Charlie's song. And they
wrote this and they sang it. They had their guitar and seven
or eight of them sang it. This is the song. Now remember
it's written in Spanish and Milton translated it so it won't rhyme
in English. The title of the song is difficult
to forget. And this is written by the men
of the Baptist Church at Pinza San Rafael, Chiapas, Mexico. A long time ago, we knew a servant
of the Lord, visiting this zone where there's no civilization,
traveling the roads with great difficulty, but bringing us a
message of love and faith and truth. Our hearts are in mourning
because Charlie said he might not come back. We trust the Lord
Jesus will heal him and we will see him again. We will see him
again. I know for sure that in some
place we'll meet our God promises to be. Like faithful Stephen
saw the glory of God, Charlie will see it also because he gave
himself to God. He preaches and preaches and
labors for his God and all that hear him sing praises to his
God. Difficult to forget. Difficult
to forget. Remembering his message by his
spiritual love, I'll not forget Charlie while there's breath
in me. I ask for mercy from God to meet with him again in that
eternal life that is of heavenly joy. Difficult to forget. Isn't that beautiful? And that's,
you know, as we go there and give, it's like verse 5. Look at verse 5 here. John said
to Gaius, he said, Gaius, beloved, you do faithfully when you do
things for the brethren and the strangers. You do it faithfully. And verse 6, and these people
have borne witness of your love. This song here is a witness of
the love of 13th Street Baptist Church and their men, from these
people down here. Thank you for the gospel. These
people have borne witness of your love before the Church,
whom thou, if thou bring forward on their journey after a godless
sort, are worthy of God, you do well, because that for his
name's sake these traveling faithful missionaries went out taking
nothing, they've accepted nothing of the heathen. Verse 8, we therefore
ought to receive such, and here's the sum and substance. that we
might be fellow helpers of the truth and to the truth. I thank God for you. I say with
old John, I'm more thankful. I'm going to preach about it
tonight from 1 Corinthians, but I thank God for this church and
for your faithfulness and dedication and your encouragement, and I
thank God For the open doors He's given us, He's just blessed
us beyond measure. I just can't thank Him enough
for the way He's blessed this church. And I'm going to talk
about this tonight. And let's give thanks to Him,
but let's re-emphasize and encourage one another. Let's remain faithful. Dr. Spurgeon said one time, what
we have, He gave us, and it can just as quickly be
taken away as it was given, if it's not glorified to Him. If
you don't faithfully hold it, He'll find somebody that will.
That's just so.

Fellow Helpers to the Truth

What does the Bible say about love and truth?

How do we know that God's people are beloved?

Why is the relationship between love and truth vital for Christians?

How does prosperity relate to spiritual health according to the Bible?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

Joshua

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Music

Recent Comments

About

Legal

Subscribe

Account

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Recent Comments

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Collections

Music

About

Legal

Subscribe

Fellow Helpers to the Truth

What does the Bible say about love and truth?

How do we know that God's people are beloved?

Why is the relationship between love and truth vital for Christians?

How does prosperity relate to spiritual health according to the Bible?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

More from Henry Mahan

Related Sermons

Same Scripture

Articles by Henry Mahan

Books by Henry Mahan

Joshua

Where this book stands in the tradition

Plato

Augustine

The Western Christian Tradition

This Book