The Church Under Attack from Within

Transcript

GR 1288
The Church under Attack from Within
III John 10-14
03/20/05


The church begins in Acts 2, God brings into existence that body of believers called the church which will form the bride of Christ. Through the book of Acts we find the message of Jesus Christ, salvation by faith in His name, His finished work on the cross capped by His resurrection from the dead. It’s the subject of the proclamation of the followers of Christ throughout the world, and it is a message and ministry that takes place in the context of conflict. The church begins in Acts 2. Already in Acts 4 we have some of the apostles being arrested for preaching the message of Jesus Christ. And that pattern of opposition and difficulty continues throughout the book of Acts. The followers of Christ go and proclaim the truth concerning Christ, there is resistance and opposition and persecution. Initially that opposition came from those outside the professing church. But with the passing of time the devil would adjust his methods of attacking the church and begin to infiltrate the church with false teachers and try to corrupt the church from within.

So in Acts 15 there is a conference held in Jerusalem attended by the apostles and leaders of the church at that time to resolve a conflict that was occurring within the churches. And that is, does a person have to keep the law as well as believe in Christ to be saved. The decision of that conference was that no, salvation is by grace through faith, and you do not need to keep the Mosaic law. That continues to be a battleground in the church in the New Testament as Jews who profess to be believers in Christ came into the church and began to confuse people by teaching it was not enough to believe in Jesus Christ, you also had to do these things if you were to be saved. Same kind of corrupted message that confuses many people today. You must believe in Christ and also join this church, you must believe in Christ and also keep the sacraments, you must believe in Christ and also be baptized. But the clear testimony of scripture is salvation is by grace through faith alone.

In Acts 20 Paul warned the elders of the church at Ephesus that from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, seeking to draw disciples away after themselves. So there would come into the church those who would teach false doctrines, those who would want to gather followers for themselves. And that becomes fulfilled as we study the letters written to the different churches. We see how the devil worked to try to corrupt the church. Two ways the devil worked, and he continues to work until today within the church. One, he promotes false doctrine, teaching what is contrary to the scripture. And he is very clever. He does not have people come into the church and say, I do not believe the Bible, I deny these doctrines that the church has believed. They come into the church and then they begin to teach things that are just an adjustment, supposed new insights.

I wrote down a list of one man who has been accepted as in the church for the last 30-35 years, he’s had a prominent ministry. Initially he was very sound. Back in the early ‘70s he wrote some books which were very outstanding. Since that time, and he is still within the umbrella of the evangelical church, he’s still a member of organizations like the Evangelical Theological Society and so on. But reading a book on the recent history of the church, the author noted, every time a false doctrine comes up in the church you find this person being at the fore in presenting it to the church. Doctrines like he’s denied the reality of a literal hell, so no one is going to hell. He has also begun to teach that those who never hear the gospel are not lost, in fact they’ll get another chance to hear it and be saved after they die. He’s been a promoter of what is called open theism, God doesn’t know anything about this afternoon and tomorrow for sure. He gets surprised, sometimes He is disappointed, sometimes He regrets doing what He did because it didn’t turn out the way he hoped. That’s the kind of God he is now promoting within the evangelical church. He’s moved away from the doctrine of the inspiration of scripture as we would understand it, and the inerrancy of scripture. He has moved to a position that the Bible is not reliable in and of itself, it has to be proved by other things outside. On it goes. You say, where do you finally draw the line and say, this man can no longer be considered within the framework of those who are true Bible-believing Christians. You know how it goes on? He keeps saying, look, I’m open to learn, I want to learn from you, I’m not set in concrete, we need to discuss these matters and see if can clarify them in our thinking.

So believers keep backing up and think, well we ought to talk further about this. Maybe he is teachable and will come along. And what happens, the poison keeps getting spread into the church and into the church and into the church and it grows and grows and grows. People say, I don’t know what is happening. We fail to function as God instructs us to function.

We not only have false doctrine, we have personalities. And these things get blunted because when you get a false teacher who has a good personality you have a wicked combination. And sometimes the church is divided simply over personalities and not over doctrine. As you are aware, that’s what is happening in III John where our study is. Paul had to deal with this in I Corinthians. Go to I Corinthians 3. Paul rebukes the Corinthian church for being fleshly, for functioning in areas of their lives like they were unbelievers, devoid of the Spirit. They had strife and divisions in their midst. That’s not a work of the Spirit in the life of the child of God, to create strife and division. That’s a work of the flesh, according to Galatians 5. What’s the problem? I Corinthians 3:4, for when one says I am of Paul and another of Apollos, are you not mere men? Aren’t you functioning like mere men, men apart from the work of the Holy Spirit in the life? What is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed. I planted, Apollos watered, God caused the growth. The church at Corinth had gotten their eyes off God and the work of Christ and were focusing on men. I like Paul better than Apollos, I like Apollos better than Paul, I get more out of Paul than I get out of Apollos. Apollos has been warmer to me and been more personable to me than Paul, and on it goes. What’s the issue here, Paul said. The issue is not who you like better, the issue is the God that we serve and the Christ who has died for us.
Verse 22, Paul, Apollos, Cephas, referring to Peter, I mean, these are just men, but we easily center in. Nothing has changed in that sense, you know. The church still divides over people—teachers they like better or don’t like as well, personalities and the kind of personality they like and don’t like. And to that extent the church is functioning like the world does. The world has its favorite leaders, leaders they like, leaders they don’t like. The business world has the same thing and we have people who can get it done, we have people who are charismatic as we would say in their personality. We have people who can generate warmth and are liked just because their personal style. Well wait a minute, wait a minute, the church is not like that. The church is about truth, the church is about the living God, the church is about the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for us. The church needs to guard against functioning like mere men, like people do who don’t have the Spirit of God.

Sadly, in II Corinthians, the second letter to the Corinthians, chapters 10-12, the Apostle Paul had to spend time defending himself against his critics. You know the kind of things his critics said? Here’s one example from II Corinthians 10:10, they said about Paul, his letters are weighty and strong but his personal presence is unimpressive and his speech contemptible. Now what does that have to do with truth? Paul’s personal presence is unimpressive. He writes good letters, we know he does, we have the letters here of I and II Corinthians. But I don’t like Paul. Do you know what the critics were saying at Corinth? If you meet Paul, you won’t find him very impressive. What’s that got to do with truth? He’s not very impressive to look at, his speech is contemptible, he’s not that good a speaker. Well what does that have to do with the issue? The Apostle Paul has to spend page after page defending himself as an apostle, a servant of Christ and a proclaimer of the truth of God because people don’t like his looks, don’t think he’s a good enough speaker? This is what the church gets reduced to? We say, how could that be? Well we know, churches have divided right down to our day and continue to divide over the personalities they like. And somehow what the church’s role is as the pillar and support of the truth somewhere gets lost. I like him, I like him, he’s been a bigger help to me, he’s whatever. Truth, the work of God is the issue.

Come to III John, all the way back, just before the book of Revelation, the little one-page letter of John. And it’s written in this same kind of context. Paul wasn’t the only one subject to such criticism. Here is the beloved disciple, John, the one who had such a close and intimate relationship with Christ during the years of His earthly ministry, the one to whom Jesus entrusted the care of His own mother as He hung on the cross. And yet you know there is a division in the church between the man who was opposed to recognizing John’s leadership and those who support it. We say, it’s a non-issue. Anybody here that wouldn’t raise their hand and say if John were present on the earth today, I would support him? Before he died there is a decision over his leadership. In III John remember, there are no doctrinal issues brought to the fore. So it comes to be what? A personality conflict. Even some commentators, as I shared with you in our previous study, say that’s all it is. And we don’t know for sure who is right because we only have John’s side. Diotrephes didn’t write a letter so he may have been right. That’s not handling the scripture, that’s rejecting the scripture and putting our own thinking above it.
Problem in the church that John is writing to is there is a man named Diotrephes. John is probably at his home church in Ephesus, but he has a ministry beyond his home church, the church at Ephesus, in other churches in the region of Asia. The problem is in the church where Diotrephes is, when John sends his representatives out with a letter or message from him, Diotrephes’ church is closed to them. Diotrephes will have nothing to do with John, nothing to do with any messengers that come from John. And we were looking at Diotrephes in verse 9, I wrote something to the church, but Diotrephes who loves to be first among them, does not accept what we say. You know this kind of man does as much damage to the church of Jesus Christ as the man who brings false doctrine, because he is successful in dividing the church and setting it on a fleshly course, as Paul warned the Corinthians. And when the church begins to function apart from the ministry of the Holy Spirit, it is on the road to ruin. Now this is more than just a personality conflict, this is a matter of defying the will of God for His church, and thus corrupting and ruining the church.

The problem with Diotrephes is very clear and John addresses it under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, who directed John in the writing of this, remember. Verse 9, I wrote something to the church, but Diotrephes who loves to be first among them. Remember, that’s literally. I wrote something to the church, but the one who loves to be first among them, Diotrephes by name, wouldn’t accept us. You know the problem with Diotrephes? Pride. I don’t want to share the spotlight with John, I don’t want John getting any credit for this ministry, I don’t want John to get any honor for this ministry. I’m the key player here and I don’t accept John, I don’t accept what John has to say. I don’t accept those who come on John’s behalf. That’s the way it is. John says it’s a problem with Diotrephes and the Spirit inspires John in this. He loves to be first, he wants to be the center, he wants the attention. And let’s face it, by John’s very person as an apostle, as one who walked and served with Christ, his involvement would mean to that extent Diotrephes would be in his shadow. Can’t have that. Diotrephes is opposed to the ministry of John and in opposing the ministry of John and refusing to accept John, the last part of verse 9, remember, he does not accept us. Our Bibles have clarified it by saying, does not accept what we say. But literally it says he does not accept us. It’s not just the writings of John, its John personally. It all goes together. Diotrephes is closing himself and the church off to the ministry that the Spirit of God would accomplish. Serious matter.

So John is going to address it more fully in verse 10, and in this context as he talks about Diotrephes, he’ll have something to say about two faithful men. He has already talked about Gaius, he’s going to speak to him again and then he’s going to bring Demetrius into view. In this church, in this context, and in this battle there are faithful people, but it’s a dangerous time for the church. Any time you have this kind of issue doubts are raised. I mean if I can share with you that people today read the letter of John and write commentaries and say, we don’t know who was right here because we don’t have Diotrephes’ side, you realize how confusing it could be. Any time you have an issue like this people say, well I like him, I like him. And the issues get confused. It’s sad to me that a man of the character of Diotrephes can wield such influence in the church. He must have some influence as comes out in verse 10.
Let’s look at verse 10, for this reason, the reasons we’ve just talked about, that Diotrephes loves to be preeminent and refused to accept us, our letters, our messengers. If I come I will call attention to his deeds which he does. That if I come does not imply doubt that he is coming. We might translate it, whenever I come. The fact of his coming is not in doubt, in fact he’s going to say he hopes to come quickly or shortly in verse 14. But the timing of it is not so settled. Perhaps other responsibilities, perhaps his health. John is getting up there in years now, travel wasn’t as easy as it is in our day. So for whatever reason John is not sure when he’ll be able to come, he thinks it will be very soon. But whenever it is that I come to the church there, I’m going to deal with Diotrephes. Whenever I come I will call attention to his deed which he does. I’m going to bring to remembrance, and the picture evidently calling to the fore the works that Diotrephes is doing, there is going to be a church meeting. And John is going to expose Diotrephes, and I’m going to present before the church the works that he is doing. You can be sure that this would be a meeting that would have some tenseness about it. Can you imagine we’re going to have a meeting if I were in a conflict with another leading figure, and I said, when I come to town we’re going to have an all-church meeting and I’m going to reveal him for what he is. Oh, there would be people showing up for that meeting that were only interested in the conflict and not the resolution. This is what John says—I will reveal his deeds.

The issue here and it comes out both in words and deeds, the character of Diotrephes will be revealed. And when it all is said and done, there should be serious doubt in the minds of the believers in the church of whether Diotrephes is even a believer. John does not directly say he is not, he simply lays out the evidence and lets you draw the conclusion that has to be drawn. I’ll call attention to this work. This is not because John wants to be preeminent. People look at this and say, well John just wants to be preeminent. This is the way some commentators wrote. One commentator that I read again this week said, John may be fighting for the old ways of his having the power. Diotrephes may be the new day for the church. So much for the inspiration of scripture. John is not driven by the desire for power and influence, but he is consumed for a passion to honor the Lord and do what the Lord has required to be done. There is a reason the Bible has to address the fact and remind the church to honor those who have authority over you and so on. These kind of issues continue to come up.

All right, I’ll bring to remembrance the works that he is doing. He has two participle phrases that modify this. Our participles usually have “ing.” First, unjustly accusing us with wicked words. Jot down James 3:6. James wrote, the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity. The tongue is set among our members, the parts of our body, as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life. Now note this, and is set on fire by hell, Gehenna. The tongue starts a raging fire and at the root of it the devil strikes the match. He gets the tongue going so that it can get the fire raging. That’s what it means, it is set on fire by hell. Hell is a place of fire, but hell was prepared for the devil and his angels, Jesus said. So hell here stands for the devil and his angels who are destined for hell. Now keep that in mind as we look at what Diotrephes is doing.

He’s using his tongue to attack John, he’s accusing us with wicked words. Present tense participle. This is not just something Diotrephes did on one or two occasions, this is the pattern of Diotrephes’ life, to bring accusations against John. And that word translated accusations has as its foundational meaning, to speak nonsense, to babble about something. It was used of unjust accusations because they were nonsense, they were unfounded slander. And what Diotrephes is attempting to do is undermine John’s leadership, John’s authority, John’s credibility by this relentless assault on the character of John. At root it’s nonsense, but you know you put nonsense in the right clothes, even Christians begin to get confused. And so Diotrephes is accusing John with nonsense. We’re not told what it is he’s accusing him of, but it’s clearly an attack on his character, on his leadership, on his motives. Evidently not his doctrine because there are no doctrinal issues addressed here.

He attacks him with wicked words. I want you to note that word wicked. I wrote down the definitions from a Greek dictionary. It means wicked, evil, bad, base, worthless, vicious, degenerate. These are the kind of words, I mean it’s just not saying something that was unkind or unthoughtful about John, this is a relentless, vicious attack on John that is ongoing. That word wicked. Turn back to I John 2:13, I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. The evil one is a reference to the devil, that word translated evil is the same word translated wicked in III John—wicked words, evil words. The devil is the evil one, the wicked one, the vicious one, the base one. Down at the end of verse 14 the same identifications, still in I John 2, you have overcome the evil one, the wicked one. Look in I John 5:18, the last part of the verse, the evil one. There’s our word again, the title for satan, a description of satan. He is the wicked one. The end of verse 19, the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. There’s our word. So when he talks about in III John 10 that Diotrephes accuses John with evil, wicked words, they are the words of the wicked one. And it reminds us of James 3:6, the tongue is set on fire by hell, by the devil himself, the one who is destined for hell. And of course Diotrephes is manifesting something of his character, something of who he serves, who his father is. Remember John 8 Jesus said to the religious leader of his day, you are of your father, the devil. He was a liar from the beginning, and you are also liars. Well you accuse John with wicked words that shows that you are of the wicked one. Your tongue is being set on fire by hell, as John builds his case here.

Back up to I John 4. In his refusal to accept John and with his attacks on John, Diotrephes is revealing his character. You know it is always clearer for us as we look back, at least clearer for us who are true believers. I’ve mentioned, it’s not so clear to some people who try to study the Word of God and write commentaries who do not have the Spirit of God, but to those who have the Spirit of God as we look at the Word of God, it does become clear. Look at I John 4:6, John writes, we are from God. He who knows God listens to us, he who is not from God does not listen to us. What does this say about Diotrephes with his attitude toward John? He refuses to accept him, he refuses to receive him. What does John say under the inspiration of the Spirit in his previous letter? He who knows God listens to us, he who doesn’t is not from God, does not listen to us. We are beginning to get a picture of Diotrephes’ true character. Will he listen to John? No. What does the Spirit say about those who won’t listen to John? They are not from God. So that’s clear. Why is the church confused? You might say well, I don’t know the church is confused. Well it becomes clear because Diotrephes evidently has some followers in the church. So John has to write this letter to try to keep the church from going over the edge until he can come and straighten things out.

Come back to III John. So John is giving examples here. I call attention to his wicked deeds. First thing, he is unjustly accusing us all the time with evil words. Secondly, not being satisfied with this. This is another participial phrase. Not being satisfied with this, and it’s another present participle. He’s going to go on with three verbs to describe how he continues in an ongoing fashion his opposition to John. He didn’t limit himself to verbal attacks on John, but as you would expect, his actions also get involved. Jesus said out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. We reveal what’s in our heart by what comes out of our mouth. And Jesus also said that it’s out of the abundance of the heart that come all sorts of evil deeds—adultery, lying, murders and so on. So the words and the works go together, they come from the same source—the heart. And so you see the same kind of character being manifest, an evil character. He backed up his wicked verbal assaults on John with actions. And note the three things he does here in not being satisfied with just verbal attacks.

First, he himself does not receive the brethren either. So he not only is opposed to John, he is opposed to anyone associated with John and John’s ministry. The brethren refer to the traveling teachers in verses 5-8 that we’ve already talked about. In this context evidently primarily those who would come from John. There is an emphatic personal pronoun here—he himself does not receive the brethren. Diotrephes takes the lead here in his personal actions and decisions to not be open to these representatives or their ministry or their messages, because he doesn’t want anybody else but himself. Secondly, he not only personally will not receive these brethren, he forbids those who desire to do so. In other words, he forbids anybody in the church to be open to these men and their ministry also. You know basically what Diotrephes is doing? He is treating John and his followers like false teachers.

Back up to II John 10, if anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching. So here John says if anyone comes and brings a teaching contrary to the revealed truth you’ve received, do not receive him into your house, do not give him a greeting. Basically Diotrephes says, we’re going to treat John and any messengers associated with John like false teachers. They’re not welcome here, there will be no reception for them, there will be no hospitality shown to them. He forbids anybody in the church having anything to do with them. And then he’s not done. Use your final weapon—church discipline, put them out of the church. And he puts out of the church those who don’t follow his instructions. He forbids those who desire to do so and puts them out of the church. So he not only forbids it, those who won’t follow his commands and so they decide I want to receive these messengers, I’m open to show them hospitality and receive the message they bring from John, then they are excommunicated, they are put under church discipline. You know Diotrephes is serious about this. I’m the big guy here.

Now there must be some support for him in the church for him to be able to exercise this kind of activity. John deals with him as a leader, but if it were just Diotrephes, the rest of the church would have kicked Diotrephes out. But there is some kind of split in this church that enables Diotrephes to be exercising church discipline over true believers. How do they get in this condition? How did Diotrephes get such influence? There are probably people who liked them, probably people who could say, you know he’s helped me, probably had the kind of personality you’re drawn to. I mean everybody has their faults, but Diotrephes I think basically is a good man. I mean there must be something going on, there’s a problem in the church here that Diotrephes is in a position to have the church exercise discipline and excommunicate any who receive messengers from John or those proclaiming messages that would come from John. I mean, we’re not in a serious situation? Puts them out of the church.

I mean that tells you how bad it has gotten in this church. We think we have struggles, we have battles. Why do we have these conflicts? The devil is a relentless enemy, he is opposed to the truth. The church is the pillar and support of the truth. He wants to corrupt the truth, he wants to bring confusion to the people of God. Obviously if the church is divided and there are enough people supporting Diotrephes and he is able to get his way here, the effectiveness of the church as being the pillar and support of the truth in this place has been nullified. Because the church is now standing against the ministry of the Spirit of God that’s being carried out through John and his followers. So the church that is to be the support of the truth now becomes the opposition to the truth. All over personality issues? All because Diotrephes wants to be first? Sad, sad, sad. And the reason the Spirit of God puts this in the Word of God is because the church needs to hear it 2000 years later because things don’t change. We have churches that get split and divided because people like this person better than this person, and this person better than this person. What does that have to do with truth? We lose sight of what the issues are.

Verse 11, beloved, we’re back to Gaius. Called him beloved a couple of times already earlier. Verse 5 he addressed him as beloved. He referred to him in verse 1 as the beloved Gaius. Now you can appreciate. Here you have this kind of not just low level tension, but tension to the level that anybody who supports John is going to be under discipline in this church. And yet Gaius has been faithful to walk in the truth, to stand firm. John also realizes that in such an intense and stressful situation it’s important that Gaius not get confused, lose heart, just decide he can see both sides. You know, when the pressure is kept up intense enough there is always the tendency for us to be looking for a way out. And especially in the church. You go to church for conflict? I mean I go to church to be built up, I go to church to be encouraged. I have enough conflict in my life, now I go to church and I’m in the middle of the biggest battleground I’ve had all week. I don’t need this.

Gaius, let me encourage you, beloved. Do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The word imitate is the first command given in this letter, first verb used as an imperative. It’s given in the present tense. Beloved, do not be imitating what is evil. Gaius, maintain your faithful walk in the truth. The context here, obviously, to succumb and follow Diotrephes would become an imitator of evil because what Diotrephes is doing is evil. Don’t become one who is imitating evil. What a terrible thing to have to say to a believer who has demonstrated faithfulness, who has demonstrated he walks in the truth. But you have to be careful. Now the pressure is on, now the heat is turned up, now it can get confusing. Maybe it is personalities, maybe John shouldn’t be trying to wield so much influence here, and all of a sudden Gaius is confused and now his walk will no longer be in the truth. No, beloved, you must keep on imitating what is good. Do not become one who is imitating what is evil. The word imitate, mimu, we get the word mimic from it. When you mimic someone, you pattern your life after them, you do what they do. Don’t mimic, don’t pattern your life after what is evil. Diotrephes is not a good model, doesn’t matter that maybe a large portion of the church is confused and looking to his leadership. Don’t you be mimicking what is evil, but what is good.

Paul uses this word mimic in in II Thessalonians 3:7, 9. He tells the believers at Thessalonica to mimic his behavior and conduct, pattern your life after me because I am patterning my life after the Lord. We try to tell people, oh don’t look at me. Well what you ought to be saying is look at me. If you can’t tell people that, change what needs to be changed. What do you mean, don’t look at me? Aren’t you walking in the truth? Well, not like I should. Well then straighten up, correct your walk. I don’t find in the New Testament believers reluctant to say, pattern your life after me. Does that mean I’m perfect? No, but I’m committed to be as perfect as I can by the grace of God, and where I’m not I’m willing to change.

Turn back to Hebrews 13. And I’m not saying you should mimic me here, but we ought to mimic those who are faithful. Hebrews 13:7, a great chapter on what we call the heroes of the faith, men and women of the Old Testament who demonstrated by their lives that they were men and women of faith. Look at Hebrews 13:7, remember those who led you, who spoke the Word of God to you. And considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith. Not just believe how they believed, but a saving faith, a true faith means your life is conformed to what you believe. So those who taught you the Word of God, those who instructed you in the truth, keep following them, keep patterning your life after them. I don’t know how we get a disconnect. People come and say, oh yes I appreciate everything I learned and I’ve been taught the Word of God so much, but I am going to do this. What does it say? What do you say? You teach them the Word of God, you instruct them in the Word of God. They say, oh yes I believe the Word of God. I got saved under the teaching of the Word, but I’m going to anyway. What do I say? Why are you getting off the track? Oh, no, this is not doctrinal, it’s just what? Remember those who led you, who spoke the Word of God to you. Considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith. I mean you want to compare Diotrephes to John? What in the world is the church doing following Diotrephes? Look at John, look at his life, look at the truth. What an embarrassment for anybody who follows Diotrephes. Here we are 2000 years later studying the gospel of John, studying the book of the Revelation, studying I John, II John, and III John because the Spirit of God was working in and through John and there are some believers thinking maybe they ought to follow Diotrephes. I’m sure it makes sense to them in that time, but it was never right. Imitate their faith, don’t be imitating what is evil. And in the context that means don’t follow these men who exalt themselves. Imitate what is good.

Come back to III John. It gets more serious. The one who does good is of God, the one who does evil has not seen God. Both these participles are in the present tense. The one who is doing good, present participle. The one who is doing evil, present participle. Put them in the form we usually do our participles. It denotes this is the practice and pattern of their life. It doesn’t mean a person lives a perfect life, it doesn’t mean the one who is doing evil never does anything that looks good, humanly speaking. Apparently Diotrephes maintained enough of a spiritual presence in the church to have a number of people in the church willing to support him and excommunicate those who wouldn’t support him. The one who does good, is doing good is of God. That does not say you become a child of God, you’re born of God by doing good. It does say the one who is doing good is demonstrating he has been born of God. We are born again by the living and abiding Word of God. We have all become sons of God by faith in Jesus Christ. It is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. That’s the only way salvation occurs. A person who thinks they are saved by believing in Christ and being baptized is not saved. They are under the curse of God and on their way to hell. The person who says they believe in Christ plus the sacraments is not saved. They are under the curse of God and on their way to hell. Not because I said, because the Word of God says it. People say, oh you should not judge, and you are absolutely right in that sense. But I am responsible as you are responsible to share the judgments that the judge has given in His Word. There is some evaluation to be done in light of His Word.

The one who is doing good is of God, the one who is doing evil has not seen God. That verb has not seen is perfect tense. Remember perfect tense refers to something that happened in the past, but the results continue in the present. The condition is the same. They have never seen God. The one who is doing evil has never seen God. They’ve no relationship with God, they never have. Oh but they claim to be believers, they claim to truth Him. You know we have to be careful. People say judge not that ye be not judged. We should not be judging, we should not, so be careful that you don’t place your judgments above the Word of God. Here is what God’s judgment is—the one who is doing good is of God. They manifest by the doing good, by their commitment to the truth of God’s Word and living their lives morally conformed to the Word of God that they have been born of God. Now I need to be careful that I don’t say well here is one who is doing evil, but I think they are truly saved. Now I am exercising personal judgment overruling God’s judgment. Well only God knows the heart. That’s right, and He’s the one who speaks here.

So we need to sort out. Most of those people saying we ought not to judge are really saying I want to put my judgments in place of what God has said in His Word. I want to make the judgment that we should not say that they are not of God. But God has already said they don’t belong to Me. So rather than it being an exercise of humility, it’s an exercise of arrogance. I want to strike this out of the Word of God and put my judgment in its place. The one who is doing good is of God, has been born of God.

Back up to I John 2. John developed this strongly in his first letter, we don’t have time to look at everything but a few passages. I John 2:3, by this we know that we have come to know Him. How do you know that you truly know God and His Son, Jesus Christ. Oh, I made a profession of faith. When I was a sixth grader I made a profession of faith, when I was an adult I went forward at a meeting. That’s not what he says here. By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. It does not say you come to know Him by keeping His commandments, except obeying the commandment to believe in Him. God commands all everywhere to repent. The one who says I have come to know Him and does not keep His commandments is a liar and the truth is not in Him. If you say you know God, but you don’t obey His Word, you don’t know God. You are a liar. It couldn’t be any more blunt than that. Whoever keeps His Word, in Him the love of God has been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him. The one who says He abides in Him ought himself to walk in the manner as He has walked. I mean it’s simple.

Down in verse 10, the one who loves his brother abide in the light. The one who hates his brother is in the darkness. Look at verse 29. If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him. You’re not born again by practicing righteousness, you’re born again by faith in Christ. But everyone who is born of God will manifest the character of God.

Look down in I John 3:6, no one who abides in Him sins, and the verbs here are in the present tense, denoting something that is a continuous action. Doesn’t mean a Christian never commits an act of sin, but no one who abides in Him lives a life of sin. No one who lives a life of sin has seen Him or knows Him. Little children, make sure that no one deceives you. Now right, the children of God, we oughtn’t to be deceived. The one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. The one who practices sin is of the devil. Verse 9, no one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him. In other words, Peter says we have become partakers in the divine nature. When you were born into the human race, you began to do things that humans do, that people who are born into the human race do. I mean, it’s part of being human, part of the nature of humanity. The point here is, when you were born again into God’s family, God’s seed abides in you so you become a partaker of the divine nature. God’s character, now, will begin to come out. You cannot live a life of sin because you are born of God, the end of verse 9. These are harsh words, we all need to take them to heart because we all want to make exceptions. Oh I know they’re not living for the Lord, but I know they’re saved because I remember when they made their commitment. In other words, you’re overruling God. They’re living in sin, but I know they’re saved. How arrogant can I get? You say well aren’t there the wheat and the tares? Yes, the ultimate judgment will be done by God and you understand the wheat and tares are in the world and that is not all sorted out in the church, they are sorted out. If they are Christians doing sin or professing Christians doing sin, they’ll be put under discipline. If they are unbelievers they’ll be recognized as an unbeliever. This idea we do nothing has no foundation in the Word of God.

Verse 10, by this the children of God and the children of the devil are hard to discern. Is that what your Bible says? That’s the way many times the church wants to live. Oh, I don’t know that I can make a decision. Well how are they living? I know, but they said they believed. You know but what? I know better than God? Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God. I don’t care what their testimony is, I don’t care how many times they went to the front at a meeting, I don’t care how many times they stood up and said I believe in Jesus, I don’t care how many times they’ve been baptized. Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God. This is obvious. Now ultimately the judgment will be done by God, He will search the heart. But the church is responsible to act on it. A person professes to be a believer and is living in sin, we discipline them as a church. But every time we exercise church discipline on a person who is professing to be a believer, there is a serious question about their true spiritual condition. And we exercise discipline for their good so that either they can be corrected and brought back, or it will be revealed that they were functioning according to their true character.

I don’t say this to be harsh or unkind, this is the most loving thing. John says the church can’t be confused on these matters. Come back to III John. You know II John 9 said, anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Anyone who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son. You must have both correct doctrine, be living according to biblical truth and also have a lifestyle that conforms to the Word of God in your moral conduct and so on to be recognized as a believer. Both doctrine and practice are inseparably joined together, two sides of the same coin. You can’t profess sound doctrine then live in sin and be recognized as a believer. God says you’re not. He does remind us that unbelievers can make great doctrinal professions, their life reveals they are not. Godliness is a revelation of God’s work in a life joined to sound doctrine. You can’t have either or, you have both and.

Come back to III John. There is another godly man. That is a strong warning to Demetrius because the danger is, don’t get confused. You could end up imitating someone who is not even a child of God. What a disaster that the church should get so confused in these matters that they end up patterning their life after a man who in all probability is not even a saved man. Any wonder there is division in the church? Praise God for men like Gaius and men like Demetrius.

Verse 12, Demetrius has received a good testimony from everyone, from the truth itself. We add our testimony and you know that our testimony is true. The key word in verse 12 is testimony. Three times the word is used. Demetrius, there is one other man named Demetrius in the New Testament. In Acts 19, remember when Paul was at Ephesus, and this is the region where John is, he’s at the church at Ephesus. The silversmith, Demetrius, led the opposition against Paul and his ministry of the truth. Some think this is probably the same Demetrius who has gotten saved, and that’s why John has to bear such strong testimony on his behalf. That may be so, but it is all speculation. Demetrius was a very common name that denotes loyalty to a specific Greek god. It was very common in the Greek world, so there is no reason other than the same name, but it would be a common name from this region. But what we do know from verse 12 is that Demetrius has a good testimony and in all probability is the one who is bearing this letter to Gaius. And John is testifying on behalf of Demetrius. Here is a man you can trust, here is a man who has a proven testimony, here is a man that you do well to receive and welcome and support also. Demetrius has a good testimony from everyone, all the believers who know Demetrius will speak well of him. He’s a man who also walks in the truth and has demonstrated faithfulness. He has a testimony from the truth itself. In other words, his life is conformed to the truth, so when you examine him in light of the truth, the truth speaks well of Demetrius, because Demetrius’ life lines up with truth. So the truth will testify on Demetrius’ behalf, because when you examine his life in light of the truth, you’ll find that the truth testifies to the reality of Demetrius’ faith.

We add our testimony, John, and those with him. Probably an editorial we, we, I, John. I want to testify on his behalf as well. I want you to know he’s a faithful man, walking in the truth. You know our testimony is truthful, and Gaius, you know me. I wouldn’t bear witness to the godliness of this man if it were not so. So here is a man you can join with, here is a man you can imitate, pattern your life after. Gaius and Demetrius can stand together and assert their influence in the church and try to bring it back on line until John gets there. Praise God for faithful people who support the truth in difficult times.

John wraps it up with his closing words. I have many things to write to you but I’m not willing to write them to you with pen and ink. Basically the same ending that he put in his second letter that he wrote to a church and members of the church. There are a lot of things I want to say, but I don’t want to put it down in pen and ink, I don’t want to write it on paper, but I hope to see you shortly. That word means immediately, quickly, very shortly. That’s John’s desire but he realizes that may not come about as quickly as he hopes, so he writes letters. We will speak face to face. We write letters like that. You’re going to see someone you love and care about, you write them a letter and there may be a lot of things you want to say, but you’ll say, there a lot of things I’d like to say but I’m going to wait and save them until I see you face to face. The Greek here is literally mouth to mouth, we translate it face to face. Personally. There are things I’d just rather be able to talk to you about, I don’t want to put it down on paper, I want to be able to talk to you about it. And so that will wait until I get there and I hope to be there shortly.

Peace be to you, the friends greet you. Greet the friends by name. The friends that are with me greet you, you greet the friends that are there with you. Interestingly, this is the only place in all the church epistles in the New Testament where believers are called friends. Now Jesus did say and it’s recorded in John 15:13, greater love hath no man than this, than a man lay down his life for his friends. When you come to the New Testament they are called brethren and so on, but this is a unique case. He refers to them as his friends, and it gives you a warmth there, those that are identified with us and support us in their greeting to you. That’s a reinforcement. They are the band of believers and the body of believers that are supportive of John’s ministry and they are with John, but they send their greeting. And John says I want you to greet the friends by name. He doesn’t give a list of the names, as sometimes Paul does, but he does say, you give a greeting by name. When you see Stephanos you say, by the way, John sends you his greetings. And you tell so-and-so greetings. There is a warmth here, a personableness.

So not everybody in the church has abandoned John, but it’s a serious situation. There is a battle going on, a war waging in that church. Church discipline is being misused, an ungodly man has come into a place of influence, people are confused, Gaius needs to be careful that he doesn’t get confused. You know in these matters we need to clear the air. Jesus said, he who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. Doesn’t matter whether it’s my closest friend, it doesn’t matter if it’s my closest family matter. What matters is the truth. I sometimes say clear the smoke and settle down and ask, what does the Word of God say here? What is my responsibility in light of the Word of God? Doesn’t matter that I may personally like so-and-so, I may have to tell them, you know if it were a personal decision, I’d go with you. But it’s not a personal decision, it’s a biblical decision, and I must be biblical. So even if we have to part ways, so be it, but I’m going to be biblical. That’s what the pressure is good for us for. Paul told the Corinthians there must be divisions among you so that those who are approved may become evident. It’s part of the sifting process. The church that John is writing to Gaius in may not have realized, but there is a test going on between the true and the genuine here. It will be one who becomes one who will develop a pattern of conforming his life to evil rather than good. You can’t do that if you’re genuine, our testimony is at stake.

We oughtn’t to be surprised that John had opposition, the church was wracked by dissension then, it will happen today. We must have our feet planted, have the truth of the Word of God built into our lives so that when it comes it’s almost an automatic response. This is what I will do. My first question will not be, who is on whose side. I will be faithful to truth. I will be faithful to the leaders God has placed in place. If there is not clear moral failure, if there is not clear doctrinal abandonment, I will follow the leaders. Why is that so difficult? Why were they confused in John’s day? Why does the church get confused today? It’s important that we pattern our lives after godly people, especially important in difficult and stressful times. God is faithful, there are faithful people in the church where Gaius is. Demetrius has come to reinforce him with a message from God through John so that the church there might be strengthened. How important it is that the church which is the pillar of the truth maintains its testimony strong and clear and in the face of the opposition of the evil one.

Let’s pray together. Thank you, Lord, for your truth. Thank you that we are blessed to have this truth in completed form in your Word. Thank you that we can turn to the epistle of III John and learn and be instructed and understand even more clearly and have reinforced the importance of faithfulness. Guard us as a church and keep us from the divisions that would center around personalities, how tragic they are. Lord, keep us from divisions that would center around doctrinal error. Lord, may our testimony of you be faithful, may we love you more than our friends, may we love you more than our family. May we walk in the truth whatever the cost. We pray in Christ’s name, amen.