Walking in God’s Truth

Transcript

GR 1286
Walking in God’s Truth
3 John 1-4
03/06/05


I had an interesting opportunity this week, I want to share a few things with you by way of background to where our study is going to be today. I received an e-mail the first part of the week from a man who I found out had been a missionary for a number of years, now is back in the States working with his mission organization and also serving as a part-time college professor at a Christian college. And he had come across some of our material and wanted to know if I would do a conference-type call with 35 students that he was working with there in one of his classes at the college. In talking, his concern was, and what drew him to contact me, the change or situation that has taken place in evangelical Christianity, not only in this country, but as he observed it in other parts of the world as well, where we’ve moved away from a dependence and conviction of the sufficiency of the Word of God for our lives as God’s people. We’ve moved into the realm of experience. And we talked some about the matter of demons and demonology with some of that material going around that we’ve addressed. It’s these kinds of things, he says, that are just permeating everything everywhere. I had a conversation with him personally one evening and then I spent part of an afternoon with his students in a conference call. And I was refreshed, first by his conviction and concern that these young people understand clearly the absolute sufficiency of Scripture and its authority for every area of our lives. I appreciated the questions of these young people as we talked over the phone, the opportunity to address some of these matters with them.

That tied into a book that I’ve been reading, it’s a reminder of the change that has gone on in evangelical Christianity, since basically the ‘40s and ‘50s and on. A movement arose earlier in the last century called neo-orthodoxy under a Swiss theologian named Karl Barth. And neo-orthodoxy means the new orthodoxy, but it wasn’t orthodox at all. But it seems to be a return to the Bible. Karl Barth responded and reacted to the liberalism of particularly many German theologians who just openly and flatly denied the Bible, rejected the supernatural. Well he came on the scene and had a dramatic impact and his impact continues as he talked more about Jesus Christ and about the Bible. However, it wasn’t true, biblical orthodoxy. Karl Barth made a distinction between the Bible as the Word of God and your experience with God. And for him revelation came through your experience with God, not through the propositional, written truth of God’s Word. And it’s hard to fathom as we hear this and the impact this has had on what we call evangelical Christianity, fundamental Christianity.

Several professors, well-known in the evangelical world through their writings, changed their views. For example, one professor who was at an evangelical seminary, had written articles defending the orthodox view of scripture that the Bible is the Word of God, we come to know God through His written Word. He had written and defended that. Later he reversed himself and concluded, I cannot assent to the older, orthodox view which still has its adherents, that revelation in the biblical sense of the term, is the communication of information. Now what is he saying? I no longer can hold to the view that used to be orthodox, or identify with orthodoxy, that revelation involves the communication of information. In other words, the statements of this book, the Bible, are not a revelation of God. Well where do you get the revelation of God? The revelation of God comes through you having experience with God. Now this written revelation may contribute to that, this written Word, but the real issue is your experience of God.

Followers of Karl Barth would have this view. It’s not really crucial whether Jesus Christ died physically on a cross at a certain point in time in history. What is important is that you have a resurrection experience with Jesus Christ. Now if you’re thinking you’d say, well I’m not sure that makes any sense. I hope it doesn’t. If there was not a real, literal, physical crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, just what do we mean with this resurrection experience? It becomes some kind of mystical, and they called it supra-history—history above history. Well the problem is there is enough mixture of truth in this that it becomes confusing, because we would have said, well yes, we want people to have a true, saving experience with Jesus Christ. But if you believe the Bible you understand a person only enters into a relationship with Jesus Christ through hearing and believing the propositional revelation, the revelation we have in the statements of scripture. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.

What another leading evangelical professor wrote and he had once written and been a champion of the orthodox view that the Bible is the Word of God. In fact he had written that the Bible is the autobiography of God, it is God’s revelation of Himself. He went and studied for a year under Karl Barth and changed his view. Special revelation, the revelation of the Bible, was no longer the most important doctrine for Christianity. It was the Person of Christ and His gospel, the content of the gospel, not in its verbal revelatory form. I don’t want to confuse you, but you see what he is saying. The written Word of God is not what is so crucial for us, it’s the gospel, and it’s the Person of Christ. It’s not the revelation of God given in verbal form. Then why is it Christ and the gospel? You say, I don’t want to say Christ and the gospel aren’t supremely important, but just how do I get this knowledge of Christ and the truth concerning Him if I don’t get it from the verbal revelation? You get it from your experience, existentialism, out of your own existence, the experience that you have.

There is an element of truth that we understand. Some people hear the Bible and never respond in faith, and it never has any impact on them and they never enter into a true, saving relationship with Christ. But the neo-orthodox we’re not talking about that. They’re talking about having a relationship with Christ and experience with Christ apart from the Bible. Statements like this, one cannot equate the human words of the Bible with the words of God. So the words of this book, that’s why they say it doesn’t matter if there is error in it, it doesn’t matter if Jesus literally died and was literally raised from the dead. It does matter if you have an experience with Christ, a resurrection experience. We’ve moved it to the realm of the mystical, the subjective, our experience. The Word of God is never in the text of scripture. These kind of things. We say, well, amazing. It is amazing to me that scholarly men who had claimed to believe the Bible and had written in the defense of the Bible now abandon that position to move to some kind of experientially determined knowledge and understanding of God.

This was a major battle and issue when I was a student in the ‘60s in Bible college, and we were reading all the material of Karl Barth and the pros and cons and were debating, could this man truly be a believer, and all of that. And you know you think, well it goes away, it passes, but it entered into the realm of the evangelical church, the church that claimed to believe the Bible. But now there was a subjectivity introduced, and this influence has continued and grown until basically today it is the theology of the evangelical world. And really basic to the substance of my discussion with this professor and his class. I’m not talking about Barth specifically, but the whole realm. Experience has superseded scripture. That has caused the redoing of the evangelical church, it is no longer built around the serious study of the written Word of God. Oh we still want to talk about the Bible, but it’s built more around creating an experience for the people who come to church. So people can go out and say, I didn’t feel like I worshipped, or I really felt like I worshipped. Just tell me, where in the Bible could I go and it will tell me how I should feel as a result of worshipping. I know the Bible tells me what I should do in true worship, and how to worship. It tells me that I must have a sense of awe and reverence before God, the clear instruction of scripture. But where does the Bible say, here’s how you ought to feel. And so the church gets restructured now around its music. Praise God for the great music He has given us here. But churches today, now, want to structure their whole worship around music, drama. Why? That relates to me on the experience level. So the churches aren't denying the Word of God, they still have good doctrinal statements. If you asked them they’d say, oh yes we believe the Bible is the Word of God. They just do not function according to that doctrinal statement. We used to speak against the charismatics because they were so experience oriented, and now we’ve just climbed into bed with them.

I have another piece of information and then we’re going to move to the text we’re going to study. I clipped this out of the paper, I may have to quit reading the newspaper, too. It’s a new church starting in Lincoln. I’m not criticizing specifically anyone, and all I know about it is what’s in this article, and I’m only addressing what’s in this article and assume that it reflects what it says they said. The title is New Church Focuses on Transformations. Well right away you say, well the Bible does speak about transformation. If any man be in Christ he is a new creature, and as we study the Word of God, II Corinthians 3:18, we are being transformed by the power of the Spirit into conformity with the glory of Christ. So here is a new church that focuses on transformations, and the church’s mission is to “proclaim a message of hope that transforms lives.” Well in and of itself I don’t have a problem with that, although I want to know what the message of hope is. Doesn’t say we’re going to proclaim the Bible to transform lives, or to proclaim the Word of God to transform lives. We’re going to proclaim a message of hope. The gospel is a message of hope, that’s the one.

They go on to give the background of the pastor, he has evangelical training in an evangelical college, and he was on the staff of a large evangelical church in our own city. He’s starting this church in the confines of a denomination that has been historically within the evangelical framework. After that they tell you the service times, and then they say, the service is contemporary with a band and praise choruses. I always have, I can’t say yellow light, they’re red, flashing in my mind when I read this. Is this one of the most important things about our church? It’s contemporary. When our family was saved many years ago, my parents moved up from a Methodist church to an independent church that was teaching the Bible. I never remember my father or mother saying we’re going over there because the music is good, we’re going over there because the service is more contemporary. Let’s face it, even in the ‘50s and ‘60s things were contemporary relatively. You know what they said? We’re going over there because they teach the Bible, we will learn the Bible there. I don’t know what I would have thought if they had said we’re going over there because the music is better. I like the music where we are and all my friends are here. At any rate the service is contemporary and they have a band, praise choruses.

Now here, listen, here is the senior pastor speaking. Our desire is to help people get emotionally healthy. We have a transformational prayer ministry to help people walk through some of the hurts of their lives. Now what in the world does that mean? Our desire is to help people get emotionally healthy. Now just would you mind showing me anywhere, I know that Paul wrote to Timothy and said that the church is the pillar and support of the truth, and that the gospel is the power of God for salvation, and on we go. But where do I go to find that the role of the church is to help people get emotionally healthy? It goes on, we have a transformational prayer ministry to help people walk through some of the hurts of their life. What is a transformational prayer ministry? I referred to II Corinthians 3:18, as we behold in the mirror of the Word of God the glory of the Lord, we are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory. So I understand we as God’s people, we who have believed the gospel, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God, now are nurtured. And as newborn babes are to long for the pure milk of the Word, as Peter wrote, that we might grow in respect to our salvation. So understand what the Bible says about being transformed by the power of the Spirit through the Word of God. What is a transformational prayer ministry? You say, are you against prayer? No, I’m not against prayer. I believe our prayer life ought to be informed and directed and guided by the Word of God, like every other area of our life. Just what is a transformational prayer ministry that helps people deal with the hurts of their life? What are the hurts of our lives? Somebody closed the door on my finger when I was on my way to church? Well, no, that’s silly, I mean we’re talking about more serious things. What? Sin? What are the hurts of my life? How am I going to be transformed by prayer to deal with the hurts of my life?

And then he goes on to say, my belief is that I’m tired of playing church. I don’t like religion. It’s about a relationship with Jesus Christ. Many people want to play the game of Christianity and don’t meet the person of Jesus. There’s an element of truth in that. Many people go to church and never believe in Jesus Christ. My belief is I’m tired of playing church, I don’t like religion. I am, too, what’s the church to be? The pillar and support of the truth. Nowhere, the entire article, is about what our church is about, why people are coming and what we do, does the Word of God have a role to play. Now maybe the article doesn’t accurately reflect, but what is here does point out—where have we gone? To our experience, and we’re happy to have a church that is going to deal on the experiential level. It’s going to have the kind of music I like, it’s going to have the kind of upbeat, contemporary kind that I like. And I’m not arguing for contemporary or against contemporary, for traditional or non-traditional. I’m saying that’s not the issue, the issue is the eternal, unchanging Word of God. And if you’re picking a church on any other basis of the fact that it is a place where the Word of God is believed and taught, then you’re making your decision in defiance of the Word of God and what God says the church is to be.

This does not bother me that it goes on in the world. The world has openly abandoned the Word of God. I’m talking about the religious world. It does bother me that this is where the evangelical church has gone to, and we are what? In the realm of our experience. So then we’re dealing with all kinds of things. We have the psychologists come in that deal with us according to our experience. We have a conference coming to town in an evangelical church and we got an invitation. I’m almost offended that we got the invitation, not almost, it did. So we can go and pay almost $300 to have a psychologist help us to deal with the sexual abuse of our past. And if we haven’t been sexually abused or at least we don’t know about it, we’ll probably find out about it and then if we find out we never have, we can help those who have. I can find out, now why do I have to go to him to find out what the Word of God doesn’t tell me how to deal with sin, and the results of sin, and sin in the life. This goes on in the evangelical world and nobody rises up in opposition.

We’re going to III John, in case you think I’ve forgotten. Already the last of the apostles had not yet died and the church was being corrupted and moved away from its foundation of truth. You know what the epistles of John are about? The Apostle John having to confront the opposition to biblical truth that was arising within the church, teachers within the church opposing apostolic ministry and apostolic doctrine. Nothing has changed. The devil has been a liar from the beginning, Jesus said, and he’s the father of lies. And as a liar and the father of lies he is permanently opposed to truth. It is the most effective ministry among those who have experienced the saving power of God is to stunt their growth by moving them from a diet of the pure milk of the Word that will enable them to grow in their salvation. Not open denial of the Bible, keep those great doctrinal statements, just don’t practice it.

So III John is written by the disciple John to deal with this very issue, to encourage a man who was faithful to the truth, standing for the truth, living the truth, to deal with a man who was defying the leadership of John and thus the truth that John taught. To speak well of another man who was faithful, to encourage the church. III John is the shortest letter in the New Testament. There are four one-chapter letters—Philemon, II John, III John, Jude. The shortest is III John. It has 219 words in the Greek text. The next shortest is II John, it has 245 words. So III John is the shortest by 26 words. And I can’t tell you how many are in Philemon, how many words are used. I didn’t write it down and my mind is not good enough to remember. You want to do Bible trivia, there are some questions you can use. The writer is the Apostle John, that one who was privileged to walk with Christ from the beginning of His earthly ministry.
Let me just share with you some things about John, we’re not going to do an extensive biography as we want to look at the opening verses of this book, but I want you to appreciate the man we’re talking about, because he’s the man whose ministry is being defied and opposed. His message is being rejected. He is a man who had been a fisherman with his father. We’re not going to go through the verses for time. His father was Zebedee, he had a brother named James who was also called by Christ to be one of His apostles. In fact John, his brother, James, and Peter formed the inner circle during Christ’s earthly ministry—Peter, James and John. James and John were brothers. The gospels tell us that before Christ called James and John to be followers of Him, they were in the fishing business with their father, Zebedee, on the Sea of Galilee. John 1 tells us that John had been a follower of John the Baptist when Jesus called him. So somewhere along the way the Apostle John, before he was an apostle, heard John the Baptist preaching, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And he responded in faith to that message. And he was a follower of John the Baptist, but he tells us in the first chapter of his gospel that one day Jesus Christ came be and John the Baptist identified Jesus as the one he had been talking about. And John and his brother, James, immediately become followers of Jesus. Asked where He is staying and go and from that point on. So at the beginning, really, early in the ministry of Christ and the calling of His followers, John was called.

It seems to be inferred from scripture and is generally taken by commentators in comparing some of the scriptures, that Salome was the mother of John and James and also the sister of Mary, the mother of Christ, which meant that John and James were cousins of Jesus in His human realm. We think of John as the disciple of love. He writes much about love in his gospel and in his epistles. We’re going to be talking about it in the third epistle. And sometimes we get an idea of John as that more mild, meek, passive disciple that had that intimate relationship with Christ at the Last Supper. He is reclining on the chest of Christ, the position of intimacy and closeness. It’s interesting to me, when Jesus went through formally appointing His disciples, He named John and his brother James. And in Mark 3:17 it says He gave John and James another name. Remember when He called Peter He said, you are Peter, I’ll call you Cephas. Gave him another name. You know what He called James and John? Boenerges, and then He translates it for us, Mark 3, Sons of Thunder. So we oughtn’t to think of John, the disciple of love, the apostle of love, and this intimate, quiet, reserved one among the disciples. Jesus named John and James according to their character—impulsive, passionate, fiery. In Luke 9 later in the ministry of Christ, Jesus is traveling to Jerusalem with His disciples and the Samaritans don’t want Him to stay there. You know what John and James say to the Lord? Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven and burn them up right now? Here’s an idea that John could be a passionate man. Just say the word, Jesus, and we’ll do it, and we get something of the impulsiveness of them. Do you think Jesus had to look to John and James if He wants to call down fire from heaven? But John and James speak right up, just say the word, Lord. We’ll cook them on the spot, that’ll warn them, that’ll teach them good.

That doesn’t mean John wasn’t a godly man and he grew and matured in his ministry, but he was a man, as you read his epistles, that is standing firm for the truth. After the gospels we don’t hear much about John. In Acts 4 and again in Acts 8 he appears in significant ministry with Peter. After that he drops out of the picture, he is not seen again in the book of Acts. In Galatians 2 Paul says, in giving his testimony, he went up on a second visit after his conversion to Jerusalem, and on that occasion he met with the pillars of the church—Peter, James and John. John is playing a significant role even though he is not spoken of much in scripture further.

Then in Revelation 1 we hear of John again, he’s identified as the writer of the revelation of Jesus Christ. On that occasion according to Revelation 1:9, he had been exiled to the Island if Patmos because of his testimony for Jesus Christ and for his preaching the Word of God. You see even in his old age he had matured, he was a godly man, he has not lost any of his passion, any of his convictions, and so he was exiled for testifying so strongly for Jesus Christ, continuing to preach the Word so boldly. Tradition tells us that he served the Lord from Ephesus during the last part of his ministry and ultimately died there around the turn of the century.

Here is a man who could speak authoritatively about Jesus Christ, here is a man who was privileged to walk with Christ, and not only walk with Christ but probably have the most intimate, human connection with Christ of any of the disciples. When Jesus Christ hung on the cross, whom did He commit His mother to for care? To John. Now God revealing much of His truth to him. John wrote the gospel of John, he wrote the book of Revelation, and he writes the three epistles. But here in the maturity of his ministry there are people within the church who oppose his leadership and oppose his doctrine. We oughtn’t to be surprised at what goes on in the church today.

We’re going to look at the salutation of this letter. This is a standard letter, size wise it is going to fit on one sheet of parchment. Parchment, remember, they made by weaving the reeds and weighting them and pressing them and so on. Standard letter-size sheet of parchment was 8 x 10. Nothing has changed much in 2000 years, has it? You go to the store and get a letter-size sheet, what do you get? 8½ x 11. Not very original. Almost 2000 years ago John would have written this letter on a sheet of parchment which would have been 8 x 10. That was standard letter size. You go to the store and you say I want some paper to write letters. What size? Well I want standard letter size. And they’ll give you what? 8½ x 11. I don’t want legal size, I want letter size. So 8 x 10, this would have fit on that sheet.

Very similar in content to II John, but there are significant differences. Sometimes wonder, why did the Lord repeat it? Why didn’t He just sort of merge these letters? You understand, these things are of crucial importance. What is repeated by the Spirit of God is repeated because we need to hear it, we need to be sure we are putting it into practice. It follows the standard procedure. The salutation will identify the writer, the recipient, give a word of greeting and then a word of encouragement, thanks and then on into the body of the letter.

It starts out, the elder to the beloved Gaius whom I love in truth. The elder, he identifies himself by his position, not by his name. That’s standard. When John writes his gospel he never names himself as the writer and so on. And when he talks about himself, it’s the disciple whom Jesus loved, for example. Here he identifies himself with his title, not by his name—the elder to the beloved Gaius. That was the same way he started the second letter that he wrote. The elder to the chosen lady. The word elder is used three different ways in the Bible. It could be used just for an older person, someone who is elder, older in age. Titus 2:2 says not to rebuke an older man, uses this word. It’s the word presbyteros. We get the word presbyter, presbyterian from it. But it was used of people who were just older. Secondly it’s used of the leaders of Israel in both the Greek translation of the Old Testament and in the gospels, several times in the book of Acts to refer to the elders of Israel, who were the leaders of the nation Israel. And thirdly, and perhaps most familiarly to us, it’s used of the leaders in the church. Timothy, Titus, Peter are referred to as the elders of the church. We read in the book of Acts when they’re appointed and their role in Acts 11 and 14. The leaders of the church.

Seems to me that that’s the role that John is identifying himself with here. It may be that he is elderly as well, could be advanced in years by this point, obviously, but the focus in on his position in the church as an elder, and as the elder. He would have been an elder among elders. Peter identified himself in I Peter 5:1 in writing as, I exhort you as a fellow elder, but obviously as an apostle who was also an elder in the church, he had that added position. Here John writes, particularly in the role he has, probably writing from Ephesus where his pastoral ministry focused during the last part of his life, according to pretty consistent church tradition.

He’s writing to the beloved Gaius. Now Gaius, we don’t know anything about. There are three other men by the name of Gaius identified in scripture. Gaius was a very common name. One commentator said it was the most common of Roman names. Others listed it among the top Roman names, identified it several years ago with the name John as one of the most popular names. And many writers say it would have been equivalent to it in that day. So it becomes difficult to identify when you have a name that was so popular. It is a Roman name, so he’s not Jewish background. Probably indicative of the fact that he came out of a pagan background. We know nothing about his conversion, anything like that. If you’re interested in the other Gaiuses, there’s a Gaius of Corinth. Paul baptized him in I Corinthians 1, and in Romans 16, he wrote the letter to the Romans from the home of Gaius, the Gaius of Corinth. There is a Gaius of Macedonia mentioned in Acts 19:29, which would have been in the northern province of Greece, and he was one of Paul’s traveling companions, and he was with Paul when the Ephesian riot took place. Then there was Gaius of Derbe in Acts 20:4 that had been appointed by the church to travel with Paul in carrying the offering to Jerusalem. These men get identified by the area they are from, and then there is this Gaius. Most commentators are in agreement there is no reason to connect this Gaius with any of the other Gaiuses mentioned in the New Testament.

It’s a reminder there are men who play a significant role that we know almost nothing about. This is a reminder there are a whole host of saints being used in significant ways by the Lord in His church that are never even named. Certain individuals stand out more prominently because of the role God has given them, but you realize the work of the ministry of the Spirit of God in the world through the church was being carried out by many, many faithful people. Gaius is one of those. He is here called the beloved Gaius, the well-loved Gaius. John is going to emphasize this aspect, he is well-loved by the church, he is loved by John himself. John will address him as the beloved in verse 5. He’ll address him again as the beloved in verse 11, the well-loved one, well-loved by the church and loved by me especially, he goes on to say.

To the beloved Gaius whom I love in truth. He’s not just saying here I truthfully love him, I’m telling the truth when I say I love him. The context as he goes on indicates he’s talking about the truth that God has revealed. Our relationship takes place in the context of the revelation God has given of Himself, His truth. He’ll go on to talk about Gaius walking in the truth and so on. This is going to be a key emphasis in this book, going to be mentioned six times, truth, and then the word true mentioned also. Short letter but constant mention of truth. I love him in truth, I love him in truth. He’s the beloved Gaius, well-loved Gaius. Those who had been part of his ministry, they love him as I. And there’s an emphasis on that word I as it’s written in the Greek text—I love him in truth. I want you to know I have a special affection for him. Not just speaking of a general love of other believers, but I love him in truth. We are bound together in the context of the truth. We both operate in that sphere, and that’s the realm in which my great love for him takes place as well.

He moves to address him as the beloved. Beloved, talking about Gaius, the beloved, the one he loves. Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers. What do you desire for those you love? Think of your family, your children, your grandchildren. Oh my desire, my prayer is that God will bless them in every area of their life. I want them to do well, prosper, to do well. The word is used of financial prosperity in the book of Corinthians, but this is not prosperity gospel. Just the desire for those we love, we want them to do well, we want them to experience the blessing of God, we want them to have good health. I want you to prosper and be in good health, I want you to do well in all areas of your life, I want you to have good health. But the measure for all of this is just as your soul prospers. Gaius was a man of sound spiritual health, he was prospering spiritually in his soul. And that becomes the standard and the measure.

We all want our children to do well. We want them to have good health. But the most important thing is they prosper spiritually. One commentator put it well, John’s prayer should give us pause. What if such a prayer were made for me and it was answered. In other words, I’ll do just as well in my life and in my health as I’m doing spiritually. What condition would I find myself in physically and spiritually? Compare your bodily health to your spiritual health. Dare we hope and pray for ourselves or others in this manner that I pray, Lord, I want everybody here to do as well in their life and in their health as they’re doing spiritually. Do we need a row of emergency vehicles up front immediately, if my spiritual life was the measure of what the rest of my life is. This is the most significant thing. John is going to come back to this, that we prosper spiritually. Everything else can be taken care of. You know I desire that my children and my grandchildren do well in their life and have good health, but if they don’t that won’t matter. But if they fail spiritually, they will have nothing. The worst thing would be that they prosper and do well and have good health and die and go to hell. So Gaius is a testimony. Of course, in the grace of God they can have good health, I would desire that of course. None of us want to see those we love suffer physically, but that’s not the most important thing. We’d like our kids not to have to struggle, be able to pay their bills without pressure, but that’s not the most important thing. Spiritual prosperity. Gaius stands as a testimony, he prospered in a spiritual, godly way.

How does John know this? Verse 3, for I was very glad, I rejoiced greatly when brethren came and testified to your truth. The way the Spirit of God has directed John to write here, he expressed his heart for Gaius. What had happened is John centers his life and ministry in Ephesus, his ministry would have spread out and there would have been people coming to talk to John, to learn from John, to carry the message from John out to other places. Remember the seven churches of Asia mentioned in Revelation 2-3? They would have been in this region where John would have been centered in his ministry at Ephesus. He would have impacted those churches greatly. As traveling teachers, as was customary in those days, came and went, they brought reports back. And the way it’s worded here, I was very glad when brethren came, present participle—kept on coming and kept on testifying to your faith. This happened repeatedly. Different teachers would come to visit with John and while they were visiting they would talk about Gaius, the man out there that is so faithful to the truth, who is committed to the truth, he teaches the truth, he stands with the truth, he lives the truth. And John says I heard this repeatedly. That caused my great joy. What a blessing to hear that kind of report.

To your truth. What a way to reference it. To our commitment to truth? No, it’s literally as it is written, to your truth. It’s your truth. I mean what do I talk about Gaius? I talk about truth, that’s his life. Didn’t say that they came and testified to your life. They came and testified to your truth, because that’s what your life is about, that’s what you believe, that’s what you teach, that’s what you live. That is how you are walking in the truth, another present participle. Your life is lived and being lived in the truth. Everything about Gaius was characterized by truth. This is so important to John who was so passionate about what God has revealed concerning Himself. And here is a man whose dominant characteristic is truth. He walks, he lives in truth.

Look at II John 1, the elder to the chosen lady and her children. He’s writing to a church and the people of that church. Whom I love in truth. Sounds like what he said to Gaius. Not only I, but all who know the truth. He wrote to the beloved Gaius, one loved by all, and whom I love in truth. For the sake of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever. The truth is endurable. Heaven and earth will pass away, my word will not pass away. The churches pass away because they abandon the eternal truth of God. Look at verse 4, I was glad to find some of your children walking in truth. Verse 6, and this is love that we walk according to His commandments. This whole issue of walking in the truth, living according to the Word of Christ is what he is emphasizing.

Listen to what David wrote in Psalm 86:11, teach me your way, oh Lord. I will walk in your truth. Unite my heart to fear your name. The man after God’s own heart. Teach me your way, oh Lord. I will walk in your truth. Hezekiah prayed to the Lord in Isaiah 38:3, I have walked before you in truth and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight. In I John 1:7 John wrote about walking in the light as He is in the light. Walking in the light is the same thing as walking in the truth. Walking in the revelation God has given of Himself.

Look at III John 4, I have no greater joy than this. What is the greatest joy to the heart of the Apostle John, the elder? I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth. This brings me greater joy than anything else, to hear of my children walking in the truth. Children spiritually, like he had referred back in II John, talking about those who walk in the truth. Verse 4, I was very glad to find some of your children walking in truth. What greater joy to those who teach and preach the Word of God, who shepherd the people of God, than to know that they walk in truth. What greater joy to my heart as one who teaches you the Word of God and is responsible to shepherd you, than to know that you are committed to the truth of God, that you are faithful to the truth of God, that the truth of God shapes your life in all that you say and all that you do. There is no greater joy. What joy was brought to my heart to hear from this missionary professor this week, and I had not ministered to him directly, but to hear of his love for the truth, his passion for the truth, his concern that people stand for the truth. What a blessing. What a joy it is to my heart to meet people from time to time, to hear from people. I received a letter a couple weeks ago from a relatively young person, compared to me, who had grown up in his early years in this church. He wrote to thank me and the people here for grounding him in the truth. It’s been many years since he’s been here now, and to talk about how that has shaped his life and been the foundation for his life. And now he hopes that his life will impact others. He’s in a medical profession. And those kinds of letters and reports are a blessing. I was out at an event that was held in one of the fair buildings here the last month or so. And a couple of people stopped me and I didn’t recognize them. They just stopped and said, you’re Gil Rugh. Your first reaction is, I’m glad to know, I had forgotten. But, yes. I want you to know I was saved 25 years ago at Indian Hills. Wonderful. And they are in a Bible-believing church, have not been here for years. The Lord moved them on. What a wonderful thing to hear, and I want to know, where are you now and what kind of church are you in now. Oh, we’re in this church and my family is here. What a wonderful testimony.

What do we want to hear? What greater joy than that you would hear your own physical children, that they’re walking in truth. This is so crucial. You know what John did, he modeled it. You know what happens to the evangelical church. We are passionate about the truth, we are committed to the truth and it has changed our lives and we can’t get enough. But with the passing of time, sometimes, that passion cools, and we try talking to our children and grandchildren about the truth. That can no longer be said of us, our truth. I don’t model for them that this is the passion of my life. If they’re going to talk about their parents or their grandparents, you know the most important thing of their life is the truth of the Word of God. That’s what they live for, they’re willing to die for, that’s what they built their life around. It saddens me to see the church happy to have the input of truth shrink down, less time for the study of the Word is better. You know I have one of the few jobs in the world where people will be happy to pay me more for less, divide those sermons up into three, we’ll double your pay. That’s not true here, I appreciate greatly your response to the Word. I realize it’s becoming more and more rare for men to have the opportunity to teach the Word to people who really want the Word and respond to the Word, encourage you in the teaching of the Word. I can appreciate John being so blessed by the testimony and life of Gaius, that he walked in the truth. And what a blessing when others are opposing the truth, abandoning the truth. When John is going to have to deal with a Diotrephes who will not acknowledge the authority of John or the ministry of John. Can you imagine the arrogance of such a man who would reject the authority and leadership and teaching of the beloved Apostle John, who will be the instrument God uses to write large blocks of the truth that reveal the very will of God, the gospel of John, the book of Revelation and I, II and III John. And there are people in the church who opposed his leadership and teaching.

We should be amazed what goes on in the church. Why did God put a little epistle like this that is similar to the previous epistle? And his word seems personal, doesn’t seem like a lot of significant material, but it is foundational. What will be the enduring testimony of our church and your life, whether you were committed to truth or not, whether I was committed to truth or not. Can they talk about our truth? That’s a testimony of our church, well one thing I can say about them, they are about truth. You go there or don’t go there unless you want to be taught the Word. I was encouraged by a preacher several years ago who told me he recommended some people over here. He said, I bumped into them, they were new to town, they said, we want to go to a church where the Bible is taught. He’s a preacher from another church. He says, well you really want to go to Indian Hills. I thought, what a blessing. Do I say that in all areas? No, what should the church be about? Now every evangelical church would say, that’s what we believe. But are we walking in truth? Does my life conform to what I say I believe? Are we about the truth? Is that what we commit ourselves with? All that we do as a church is permeated by one thing, we want to communicate the truth of God. This is what God has given, this is the revelation of Himself. If you are to know the living God, you must hear what He has said. Salvation only comes to those who hear what God has said concerning His Son and believe it. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. You cannot bypass the Word of God and have an experience with Jesus Christ. We do not bypass the Word of God and have experiences with Christ so that we can grow. You only grow in your relationship with Christ, as you are in the Word and the Spirit of God is taking the revealed truth of God and making it part of your soul and life, to conform you to the character of Christ.

How have you responded to truth, first of all? Have you believed the truth, the message concerning salvation in Jesus Christ alone? God has spoken propositionally, He has made clear statements that are recorded in His Word. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There is none righteous, no not one. The wages of sin is death. That’s the revelation of God, that’s the very Word of God. It would not be any different than if God opened heaven and said it Himself. That’s His Word. Salvation comes through faith in Him. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, in order that whosoever believes in Him might not perish, but have everlasting life. The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ. You must respond in faith to those truths to be saved. Once we have believed the gospel and experienced the power of God for salvation, we must be careful. The work of the devil in opposing the work of God does not end there, it really begins to move us away from the solid foundation of God’s Word, the revelation of God to other things. And soon experience and feelings are shaping what we are expecting and looking for, even in the church of Jesus Christ. We would continue to be known for our commitment to truth and as those who walk in truth. What an honor, what a privilege. May that be our testimony.

Let’s pray. Thank you, God, for your grace. Thank you for the power of your Spirit who has been the instrument to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to bear on our hearts and minds, to cause us to see our hopeless condition and to place our faith in Him. Lord, what a tragedy that your people should turn from your truth, that every so subtly, but every so really, we should become less passionate, less enthusiastic, less firm in our commitment to the revelation that you have entrusted to our care. Lord, keep each of us personally faithful to truth. May it be characteristic of our life that we can be spoken of in regard to your Word as it being our truth, because we walk in truth. May that be the characteristic of our church. We pray in Christ’s name, amen.