Bibles today to 3rd John. The third letter of John, almost
at the very end of the Bible, just before the book of Revelation.
It's not the shortest letter, but it's next to the shortest
letter. 2nd John has one verse less than 3rd John. But seeing it as part of the
all scripture which is given by inspiration of God, we have
a fullness in the word of God that continues to amaze me. After reading and preaching from
the word of God for many years now, I'm still amazed at the
fullness of God's word. Third John. the elder unto the
well-beloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth. Beloved, I wish
above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even
as thy soul prospereth. For I rejoiced greatly when the
brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even
as thou walkest in the truth. I have no greater joy than to
hear that my children walk in truth. Beloved, thou doest faithfully
whatsoever thou doest to the brethren and to strangers, which
have borne witness of thy charity before the church, whom if thou
bring forward on their journey after a godly sort, thou shalt
do well, because that for his name's sake they went forth,
taking nothing of the Gentiles. We therefore ought to receive
such, that we might be fellow helpers to the truth. I wrote
unto the church, but Deothrophes, who loveth to have preeminence
among them, receiveth us not. Wherefore, if I come, I will
remember his deeds which he doeth, pratting against us with malicious
words, and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive
the brethren, and forbiddeth 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, and of the truth itself, yea, and we also bear
record and you know that our record is true. I had many things
to write, but I 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. Now there's a subject in this
letter that I want to speak to us about this morning. But before
I come to that subject, I want to make a few comments about
the letter itself. First, John begins with the title,
The Elder. Now, he's not speaking about
his age, although he was the last of the apostles to die,
as far as we know. This tells us, or tells me, that
when the Lord Jesus Christ called him, he was a young man. And I cannot help but make this
remark. How blessed are those that God
calls in youth. How blessed you are today if
you are a young person here and the Lord God has called you,
or will call you, and you give your life in service to him as
the Apostle John did. What a blessing to begin life
early serving the Lord. But this term elder has to do
with the office of a pastor. There are three words that are
used in the New Testament which all refer to the same office.
Though John was an apostle, but he took his place as a preacher,
as a pastor, an elder, a bishop. And that's the way he begins.
There's no pretense. It's not Dr. John. or Bishop
John, or the Right Reverend John, or Pope John. It's simply the
elder, the elder, a follower, a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I say unto all of us here
today, there could be no greater epithet for any of us than for
it to be said, He, she, was a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. What
a privilege to think that he would call us and use us in his
service. What a blessing. A second thing
that I would mention, you notice that John mentions three men.
Gaius, Diotrephes, and Demetrius. And let's just look at these
three men hurriedly. But first of all, John rejoiced
in what he was told about Gaius, this man named Gaius, a member
of the church. And John rejoiced because he
walked in the truth. In fact, John said he had no
greater joy. Nothing gave him more joy than
to hear that one of his sons, that is one of his children in
the ministry, this was not his literal son, but no doubt he
had been begotten again under the ministry of the Apostle John. And he said, nothing gives me
greater joy than to hear that you are walking in the truth. Now when you look at this, look
at that in verse three, for I rejoice greatly when the brethren came
and testified of the truth that is in thee. First of all, the
truth was in him. Now the Lord Jesus Christ is
the truth. He said, I am the way, the truth,
and the life. And Gaius was a disciple of the
Lord Jesus Christ. The truth was in him, Christ
in you, the hope of glory. But then he said, and as thou
walkest in the truth, I have no greater joy than to hear that
my children walk in the truth. Now there are two things he mentions
here about the walk of Gaius. First of all, his faithfulness. Notice that in verse 5. Beloved,
thou doest faithfully. To walk in the truth is to Do
what God calls us to do faithfully. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, and everywhere
that there is true faith, there is also love. Because the faith
with which we lay hold upon Christ is a faith, the Apostle Paul
tells us, which worketh by love. And so the second thing he mentions
concerning Gaius is his love, his charity. Verse 6, which have
borne witness of thy charity before the church. So those two
Christian graces, and they always go together, they always accompany
those who are saved. First of all, faith and love. It is required of a steward.
The apostle Paul said that we be faithful. Faithfulness. That's so important. Such a wonderful
characteristic about any person, any child of God especially. They're faithful. They're faithful. When they tell you something,
you can count on it. When they give you their word,
you can take it to the bank. They're faithful. Faithful. Faithful. even as our God is
faithful. So one of the characteristics,
one of the traits of His children is that we be faithful. And then, of course, love. In
1 Corinthians 13, Paul said, Now abideth faith, hope, and
love, but the greatest of these is love, charity. Oh, for more
love. When the Lord Jesus Christ comes
again, I have no doubt, but Gaius will hear these words from the
Master. I was a stranger and you took
me in. You say, well how do you know
that? Because that's exactly what he did. Not to Christ personally,
but to members of Christ, his children. That's what he says.
Which have borne witness of thy love before the church, whom
if thou bring forward on their journey after a godly start thou
shalt do well, because that for his name's sake they went forth
taking nothing of the Gentiles." This man, he became a fellow
helper to these men who preach the gospel. For his name's sake,
that is for Christ's sake, these men Went forth preaching the
word of God, and when they came to wherever Gaius lived, they
found a home. There was a place there for them.
He took them in, and he helped them, and in doing so, he became
a fellow helper with them. If you look back to 2 John, just
above this, In this letter he warns against receiving those
who bring not the doctrine of Christ and bidding them God's
speed. Notice that in verse 9 or verse
10. If there come any unto you and
bring not this doctrine. What doctrine? The doctrine of
Christ. The teaching of Christ. If someone
comes unto you and they do not bring this doctrine, they come,
for instance, denying the deity of Christ. Oh, he was a good
man. But you say he's God? Absolutely. He's the God-man. And if a person
comes denying the deity of Christ, the substitutionary work of Christ,
the efficacy of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, the freedom
of justification by faith in Christ. If a man comes denying
this doctrine and you receive him, notice, if there come any
unto you and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house,
neither bid him Godspeed. Far! This is what happens when
you do that. For he that biddeth him God's
speed is partaker of his evil deeds. And just the reverse is
true now here in 3 John. This man, by receiving those
faithful preachers of the gospel, those who received nothing from
the Gentiles among whom they went preaching. We usually speak
of missionaries in this text and that's certainly so. we become
fellow helpers of them. Just as to partake of a wicked
man's deeds, we partake of a faithful man's work. Fellow helpers. Gaius. What a recommendation,
what a commendation does John the Apostle give to this man
by the name of Gaius. Now second, this man by the name
of Diotrephes. And what John says about him
is, he loveth to have the preeminence. Evidently, Gaius was a member
of the same church that Diotrephes was a member and had some office
in that church. and deothrophies out of pride. You know, when it says, he loveth
to have preeminence. What is it? What is the mother
of seeking preeminence? Well, it's pride. That's very
easy to say, to know. It's pride. It's pride. And look what pride. You know,
I thought about this, and I thought about that scripture that speaks
about the tongue in the letter of James, when he said, a little
fire. kindled the great matter. And
what we may think is a small matter, this matter of being
proud, pride, look what it caused this man to do. It caused him
to speak against the Apostle John, not to receive him. And it caused this man out of
pride not to receive those men who had gone out preaching the
gospel. And it caused him to cast people
out of the church. And it all started with just
a little spark, maybe, just a little pride. All of us here today who
know Christ, pride should be the last, the very last thing
any of us should ever be guilty of. Pride, what a wicked sin. Knowing that we are, everything
that we are, everything that we have, everything that we've
done, everything that we will ever do in service to Christ
is by the grace of God. Nothing else. But then this last
man, this man named Demetrius, evidently he's the man who carried
this letter. He's the man who John entrusted
to take the letter to Gaius. And what John says about him
is that he had a good report of all. And he said, I give my
testimony and you know my testimony is true. He has a good report,
this Demetrius. But then I wanted to point something
else out before I come to my subject. In verse 11, And remember, he's
writing this to Gaius, and he's already commended him, as I pointed
out, for his faithfulness and for his love. But now he says,
Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. And I looked at this, and I thought
that we should all consider that God's children, we never outgrow
the need to be exhorted. No matter how much we may grow
in the grace and knowledge of the Lord, we never reach a point
in which we cannot profit from the word of God. And we need
God's word. And so he tells him, follow not
that which is evil. And you have the authorities,
I've just mentioned him. John might say, I've just mentioned. You have him as an example, follow
not evil. Don't go in that direction, but
follow that which is good. And just an example of that which
is good, turn back a few pages to Ephesians chapter 4. And the last verse of chapter 4 and
the first few verses of chapter 5. And be you kind one to another,
Follow after that which is good. It's always good to be kind,
isn't it? Kindness. Consideration. Be you kind. Tenderhearted. You know, a person that's proud,
seeking preeminence, he has a hard heart. Be you kind. Tenderhearted. Forgiving one
another. You know, we should forgive as
we want to be forgiven, shouldn't we? And I want God to forgive
me. I want God to forgive me for
Christ's sake. And that's what Paul is saying
here. Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one
another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Be you
followers, be you therefore followers of God. Be imitators is what
this actually says. Be you therefore imitators of
God, followers of God as dear children. God freely forgives.
He's freely forgiven me, he's freely forgiven you if you're
one of his children through the blood and righteousness of Jesus
Christ. Now be an imitator of God. Follow
not after that which is evil, but follow after that which is
good. And walk in love. as Christ also
hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and
a sacrifice. And don't miss that word, sacrifice. Someone says, well, I believe
the Lord Jesus was, in his death, was a good example. Well, he
was a good example, but he was much more than that. He was a
sacrifice. He was a sacrifice that God required
in order to put away our sins. For without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission. Walk in love as Christ also hath
loved us and hath given himself for us in our stead and in our
place. And because he substituted himself
in our place, and the wrath of God fell upon him, the wrath
that I deserve for my sins, the wrath that you deserve because
of your sins, because it fell upon him, and he consumed it
all, then we go free. He gave himself
for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor. I know that's a picture when
When something smells, the fragrance is just such a beautiful smell.
I know it's a picture, but God, when he thanks and looks upon
the sacrifice, the bleeding, the dying of his son, he's well-placed. It's a well-smelling savor in
his nostrils. And in him, in Christ, The same
is true of you and every believer. Now, I want to speak to us for
a little bit about a subject that is introduced here or suggested
to me in verse 2. If you still have your text open
to 3 John and verse 2. And the subject is soul prosperity. Soul prosperity. Beloved, I wish
above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even
as thy soul prospereth. John was confident that Gaius
was in a healthy condition, that is, his soul was in a healthy,
prosperous condition, and he wished, or he prayed, that his
bodily health might also prosper and match that of his soul. Soul prosperity. Matthew Henry
in his comment, he said this, there is such a thing as soul
prosperity. And now listen, there is such
a thing as soul prosperity, the greatest blessing this side of
heaven. Did you hear what he said? He
said he's just a man. I know that. Soul prosperity. The greatest blessing this side
of heaven. And I would remind us of this.
Just as we know from the Word of God that there is soul prosperity,
there is in the Scripture also the very opposite. What is the
opposite of soul prosperity? It is leanness of soul. Leanness of soul and we find
this in Psalm 106 in verse 15 where the psalmist tells us that
the nation of Israel after God did all that he did in delivering
them bringing them out of Egypt and Feeding them they grew tired
of that food that God was giving them and they lusted and they
wanted flesh to eat and They desired flesh to eat. They said,
we're tired of this light bread. We're tired of this angel's food. And so, the psalmist tells us,
God gave them their request. But, now listen. He gave them
their request. They wanted flesh to eat. God
gave them flesh. but sent leanness into their
soul. He gave them what they wanted,
but at the same time, he sent leanness into their soul. Soul prosperity presupposes regeneration. No soul can prosper that has
not been quickened and made alive, been born again of the Spirit
of God. So soul prosperity, it presupposes
the new birth. But I'm going to mention this
morning five things that I believe and I feel confident in saying
that I know will be true if a person really is prospering in his soul. And we can tell as we go through
these things, we can examine our own hearts and ask ourselves
this question. is my soul prospering? Could an apostle wish, and would
you be happy for him to wish and to pray that your body, your
health, and your prosperity in this world match your soul prosperity? That's something to think about,
isn't it? You follow what I said? You may
prosper well, physically, materially, but what about the soul? And
would you be happy for an apostle to wish that you prosper materially,
physically, in this world at the same level that your soul
is prospering? Let me go through these five
things. The Lord Jesus Christ will be
precious to him whose soul prospers. You know this is one of the first
signs that we are given in the Word of God that we truly believe
in Christ. Peter said, unto you therefore
which believe he is precious. Is Christ precious to me this
morning? Is he precious to me? You know,
most people say that they believe in Him, and I'm sure that many
people do believe in Him, just like those recorded in the Gospel
of John, that believed in Him, but the Lord did not commit Himself
unto them. Some kind of a temporary, superficial
faith they must have had. There are many who believe in
Jesus Christ like they believe in any historical figure. They
believe in Napoleon. They believe in Caesar. They
believe in George Washington, Abraham Lincoln. But listen,
none of those people as important as they may have been in our
history, none of them are precious to us. Could you say that? Could you say that any of those
that I've mentioned and a hundred more, that you would ever say,
he's precious to me? She's precious to me? No. They were important in history,
no doubt about it. But to you, therefore, that believe,
he is precious. When a person is precious to
us, we like to be with that person. We do. We like to talk about
that person. We like to hear about that person. A person who is precious to us. There's no question in my mind
that when a person first comes to Christ, when a person is first
born of the Spirit of God and believes in Christ. Christ is
precious. There's no doubt about it. He's
precious. Just like Peter said, unto you
therefore which believe He is precious. But what about today?
Some of us have been believers for some time now. What about
today? Can we say today, Christ is precious
to me? You know, He's presented to us
in the Word of God under a number of different relationships, isn't
He? He's our prophet. Is He precious
to me today because He reveals God to me? He's revealed as our
priest. Is He precious to me today because
with His blood He pacified God Almighty on my behalf? He propitiated
God for me? He's revealed to us as a king. Is He precious to me because
He's my king? That He reigns, He rules, He
set up His throne in my heart, and He reigns today in my life. Is He precious? I love it to
be so. I want Him to be my King. Reign
over me. Rule in my life. He's revealed
in the Word of God as our husband. Is He precious to us as our husband? A man who loves and cherishes
his bride? He's presented to us as a surety
before the law of God. He stood in our stead and He
answered. Is He precious to us today because
He paid our sin debt? I cannot believe. I cannot believe
that my soul prospers or your soul prospers today if Christ
is not precious to us. I just cannot believe that. Number
two, the word of God will be fed upon by those whose soul
prospers. When our bodies are sick, physically
we are sick, then one of the things that usually accompanies
that is loss of appetite. A person sick physically usually
doesn't have any appetite. Well, when our soul prospers,
We may be sure that we're feeding on the Word of God. We're feeding
daily on the Word of God. How is it? How is it with my
soul today? Is it my joy and delight to read
the Word of God, to hear the Word of God when it is taught? Do I desire the sincere milk
of the Word? is reading God's Word a very
high priority with me, that I set aside time, I make time. Say,
I don't have enough time. No, you don't. Make time. When
something is precious, when something is important, we make time. And I cannot believe, I cannot
believe that if we answer yes to any of these questions, that
our soul is prospering. I just can't believe that. Can
you? Can you believe that your soul
is prospering if you don't have time for the Word of God? If
it's not something that is not extra but essential? Third, the worship services will
not be neglected by those whose souls prosper. The worship services. You know, in the first chapter
of the Song of Songs, the Song of Solomon, you know, all through
that small book there, we've got the bride, which represents
the church, and we've got the beloved, the bridegroom, which
represents Christ. And several times in that book,
as you read through there, you see that the bride loses a fellowship
or the presence of the Bridegroom. Several times she does. And every
time it's a sad time for her. Every time. But I noticed in
the first chapter of that book, here's the Bride speaking and
she's speaking to the Beloved, her Beloved, that is to Christ,
and she asked Him a question. She asked Him this question,
O thou whom my soul lovest, where thou feedest? Tell me, where
do you feed? Where thou makest thy flock to
rest at noon, that is, to lie down in the green pastures. That's
what the psalmist said, isn't it? The Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in the
green pastures. Tell me, where you feed? Well, you feed your children.
And then she said, Why shouldst thou be as one that turneth aside
by the flocks of thy companions? Now listen to his answer. Now
listen carefully to this answer. If thou know not, he's talking
to the bride. If you don't know, If you don't
know where I feed, you don't know where you can find food,
if thou knowest not, O thou fairest among women, go thy way forth
by the footsteps of the flock. You look for the footsteps of
the flock, and you see where they are going, and where they
go, that's where I feed. That's where I feed the flock. and feed the kids beside the
shepherd's tents. In other words, follow the footsteps
of the flock. Now, if you think about that,
where will people be, where will people be if they follow your
footsteps when the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, when we
meet and our Lord has promised to be in our midst, where two
or three gather together, I'm in their midst, Where will you
be? If someone follows your footsteps,
where will you be? Where will you be and where will
they be if they follow your footsteps? Will they be in the house of
God to worship the Lord? Where will they be? Will they
be before a television set or will they be at the movies or
will they be somewhere else out on the golf course or just relaxing
at home? Where will they be? If they follow
your footsteps, if they follow my footsteps. Well, they should be where God's
people gather. That's where you should be. That's
where I should be. That's where I want to be. And
I can say this morning, we have some people in our congregation
who because of their ages and their physical conditions are
no longer to come like they once did. But I can say for many of
them, they had this testimony. When they had the ability, they
were here. They don't have that ability
any longer, I understand that. But some people have the ability
but choose not to participate. I cannot believe that my soul
or your soul is in a prosperous condition if we neglect the worship
services when God's people meet to worship Christ. Here's a fourth
thing. Those whose soul prospers will
often be confessing their sins often be confessing their sins.
And you say, what do you mean by that? Well, look back in 1
John to the first chapter. The first chapter. And the subject of these verses
is fellowship. It's not relationship, it's fellowship,
communion. You see that word four times. In verse 3 you find it, I believe,
twice. That which we have seen and heard
declare we unto you that you also may have fellowship with
us and truly our fellowship is with the Father. And then look
in verse 6, if we say that we have fellowship with Him and
walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. And again in
verse 7, but if we walk in the light as He is in the light,
we have fellowship one with another. And the blood of Jesus Christ,
His Son, cleanseth us from all sin. It's important, as I said,
to see that the subject here is fellowship. A believer's relationship
with God is settled once and forever. Once and forever. Our relationship, and it can
never change. Just like your son is your son,
you say, I disown him. You can disown him, but he's
still your son. God's not going to disown any
of His sons. But what I'm saying is that the
relationship is settled. But the fellowship, just like
in your situation, sometimes your son disobeys you, your daughter
disobeys you, and that relationship is still the same. But that fellowship,
that communion, is not the same. And this is what John is speaking
of here. And we have this remedy that
he gives us, that God gives us if we confess our sins. He's
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. You know, we have David in the
Old Testament as a good example of this. When Nathan the prophet
confronted him with his sin, he said, Thou art the man. David,
you're the man. You're the one who's guilty.
And David said, I have sinned against the Lord. He confessed
his sin. And Nathan immediately said,
the Lord hath put away thy sin. But then you find in the Psalms,
which record what took place later. Even though he had heard
that his sin had been put away, you find him in the Psalms, like
in Psalm 51. My sin is ever before me. It was no longer before God,
but it was still on his conscience. My sin is ever before me. Wash
me throughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Purge
me with hyssop. And hyssop, that's what they
used to sprinkle the blood on the doorpost when they came out
of Egypt. And no doubt this has a reference
to the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Purge me with hyssop,
cleanse me with the blood, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and
I shall be whiter than snow. Restore unto me the joy of thy
salvation. I cannot believe that a soul
prospers that isn't often confessing his sins, her sins. Because the
scriptures tell us in many things we all offend. We sin through
ignorance. We sin in so many different ways. And confession of sin, God has
given us. He opened the fountain, didn't
He? Thank God. He opened the fountain. And that
fountain's filled with the blood of His Son. And we wash our robes
and make them white in the blood of the Lamb. Now the last thing
in closing, the shield of faith will be in use by those whose
soul prospers. You say, what do you mean, the
shield of faith? Well, this is one piece of the
armor that God has given believers, that shield of faith. And as
long as we remain in this world, we are in the enemy's territory. And God has given us this shield
to use to ward off the attacks of Satan. This is a victory,
John tells us. This is a victory which overcometh
the world, even our faith. We walk by faith and not by sight. I cannot believe that a person's
soul prospers who is not in the habit of using this shield of
faith day by day. You know, sin comes with us wherever
we go. It's in us, isn't it? We bow down on our knees, if
you are able to do that, to pray. And you say, well, now sin's
a temptation. It'll never come. Oh, yeah. Oh,
yeah. It's with you. Sometimes thoughts
will come into your mind. And you wouldn't be very proud
of them either. The shield to ward off the fiery darts. Sin
comes with us when we come here to worship. We live in a sinful
world and we still have the old nature, all of us. And the shield of faith is something
God has given us to protect us and keep us as we go through
this world. My prayer for all of us is that
our souls may prosper. That's my prayer for myself and
that's my prayer for each one of you. More important, I'm so
thankful that I look out on this congregation and God has given
prosperity here. I see some of those pictures
of those poor people in some of those third world countries
and bones, flesh and bones, starving. We've never known that. I heard Robin Heller telling
us the other day there in New Guinea, The last doctor that was there
told them, don't ever come back here again. It's unsafe. The medical facilities, unsafe. We've been blessed, have we not?
Physically, materially, we have everything and more. And you
drive down the street and you see these storage places. People
have so much stuff, all of us. Got our houses full, our garages
full, we have to go out and rent a place and store stuff in there.
You go down the street and the driveway looks like a used car
lot. So many cars in the driveway.
You go to the grocery store, any of them, and the shelves
are stocked with food. There's a lot of countries in
this world you could go if they even have a store and the shelves
would be bare, they would be empty. There's no doubt, there's
no question that God has prospered us materially, physically. But what about our soul? I pray
it would never be true of us that God gives us the desire
of our heart, but sends us leanness of soul. Let's sing a hymn, number 485,
Revive Us Again.