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In your Bibles, the book of 3 John. I'm honored to be here and I'm so thankful to be with my son. I'm grateful to renew acquaintance with so many of you. How many of you are here today that were not here the week I was here a year ago for my son's installation service? How many of you were not here a year ago? Well, God bless you. I'm so glad to see you. We're going to have a good time today. Why don't you turn way back by Revelation, the third epistle of John, and I want to just say, I talked to Miss Jeanne earlier before Sunday school, and I said, Missions Conference is basically us trying to get the rest of your money. And so just give it to me now, and that's all we're after. I'm just reminded, we had a saying one year at our missions conference, missions conference is the week that the church votes on the fate of the heathen. the church votes on whether or not they think the world needs to be saved. It's a great time. And I'm reminded, while I just know how true this is, I'm going to, through this week, use some victims or volunteers up front here. And if I call on you, please come. And even the worst of us can be used as a bad example, okay? So if I call on you, just cooperate, come on up, bring your Bible. But I'm reminded about Henry, the farmer that came to the Baptist church for the first time and he heard the pastor mention tithing. And he asked the pastor afterwards, he says, What exactly is that tithing? I don't know what that is. And the pastor says, well you know, Henry, it's a tenth of everything you have belongs to God. For example, if you had a thousand hogs, why a hundred of them would belong to God? Henry says, I understand that. He says, or if you had a hundred hogs, why ten of them would actually belong to God? And he says, that makes sense. He says, or if you had 10. He says, you hold it right there, preacher. You know I got 10 hogs. And at the end of the day, look, we understand missions is a very important aspect. We're both to reach the world here in Cleveland and around the world, and it takes money to do that. And we always said, our church is full of willing people, those that are willing to do something and those that are willing to let them. And the people that are already involved, you know what? They love to hear about preaching for missions. And the ones who have never been involved, we want you to get involved for the first time. Together, what we can do for the cause of Christ, reaching souls around the world. And so we're not bashful about that. I have four messages to preach this week. If you can only come to one service, come tonight, really. Don't miss tonight. We're not going to beat the Methodist to the restaurant today either. I want to say that this morning. I believe it's so important. Hear me now carefully. I'm a Bible believer and I know you are too. And it's one thing for people to tell stories that tear at your heartstrings or to show pictures that would stir your emotions. But what you do for God ought to be based on the Scriptures. It ought to have a Bible foundation for what you do and why you do it. And I'm just addicted to that idea. Hey, Brother Stancil, if you missed the morning Sunday school hour, you missed a blessing. Let me just say, at Wildwood Baptist Church, where I pastored, we had this guy come 10 years, 15 years in a row, he is the resident expert on missions and missions giving in the mission field. And for you guys to have him here is just a special, special blessing. And I know he's preaching tomorrow night on it. Today, I want to just start with this Epistle of 3rd John. Hear me carefully. God established, he's the sovereign of the universe, and God gives all authority, delegates it down to this earth. Now hear me carefully, at the beginning in Genesis, he said, man, woman, families, we're going to populate the earth, replenish the earth, and I want the husband to be the head of his home. That's a biblical thing. He's supposed to lead by example, loving support and encouragement, and he reflects the character and the authority of God Almighty in his home. He's supposed to. Godly men are supposed to. You get to Genesis 9, and God established human government. And wow, whoso shedeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed. And God wanted there to be order in society, and so he established human government. And he appointed leaders and told them, hey, you're going to rule but they were supposed to reflect the authority of God. By the time you get to Romans 13, right, it talks about obey them and how we're supposed to follow them and how they're the ministers of God to thee for good, to execute wrath on evildoers and reward those that do well, right? That's what government's supposed to be, reflecting the authority and character of God. But after he had the home, and after he had the civil government, God decided to establish the church. It's his third institution on this planet, and God said, okay, I'm going to have you, hey, we're all in a body relationship with one another, we're saved, we're part of the body of Christ, we're placed by the Spirit into that body. but I'm going to give you pastors and elders to lead the flock. And they're supposed to reflect the character and the authority of God. And so he uses language like, feed the flock of God to the pastors, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers. Neither is being lords over God's heritage, but being in samples to the flock. And so they reflect both the character and the authority of God. And so then it says to the congregation in Hebrews 13, 7 and 17, Obey them that have their rule over you. Obey them that have spoken unto you the word of God and submit yourselves for they watch for your souls as they that must give account. that they may do it with joy and not with grief. And so, always, when it's God, God's ultimate authority, and whether it be in the home, or whether it be in civil government, or whether it be in the church, the leaders are supposed to reflect God's authority and character, and the people are supposed to submit and obey and follow. Unfortunately, there are some exceptions. I'd like to say every daddy was worthy of the title, and every man, every husband was worthy of the title, but a guy who beats his wife, that's not reflecting the character of God. A dad who molests his children, that didn't come from God. Don't give God a black eye over that. God never intended that. That doesn't reflect God. Well, what about in the Bible? Is there ever an example where somebody didn't have to obey the daddy? Well, what about when the king says, I want my queen to come and dance or do whatever she was supposed to do, Vashti, right? And she says, I'm not going to do it. and she'd rather suffer the consequence of being banished from the kingdom than to do what violated her conscience, right? What about in civil government? We're supposed to obey, follow, submit, but what if they said, don't you pray anymore, Daniel? Is he supposed to obey? Or are there exceptions? There's an exception, right? It means you go to the lion's den. Well, then I'll go to the lion's den. I'll suffer what consequence I have to. Three Hebrew children. They wouldn't bend, they wouldn't bow, they wouldn't burn, right? Peter, don't you preach anymore in the name of Jesus. Acts 5. That's the government. He said, we have to obey God rather than man. And he preached that we'll throw you in prison, then I'm going to prison. Right? Isn't that the way it is? So in those institutions, We know what the rule is, but there are some exceptions. They're rare, but they're pointed out, and it shows how godly people simply couldn't follow that authority because it wasn't reflecting the character and the authority of God, right? But what about in the church? I'd love to tell you every pastor is worth following. I'd love to tell you every pastor is honest, right? Now look, If you're a policeman, it grieves your heart when there's a policeman that's selling drugs. If you're an honest judge, it grieves your heart when a judge is caught taking bribes, right? It kind of soils all of us, doesn't it? But it doesn't mean all judges are crooked, or all cops are crooked, and it doesn't mean all pastors are rotten. Yes! I know a pastor who embezzled $300,000 from his church. And he tells the treasurer, don't say nothing to the people. Is he supposed to obey that? No. Right? Right? You can't. A pastor that runs off with the secretary. I can do that. My wife is my secretary. Right? But the guys that do sinful things in the pastorate are not reflecting the authority and the character of God. We're supposed to follow a pastor. But while, listen, don't ever go to a cult where they tell you to check your brain at the door. You ought to be able to think for yourself and sort out what's true and what's not, what's right and what's wrong. So, In the Bible we have examples of rotten parenting or husbands. We have rotten authority. Is there any place in the Bible that there's a rotten pastor? And what does he look like? And how do you know? I'm going to show you today what he looks like. So, I need somebody fairly extinguished looking. I'm going to ask Brother Ed Ferguson to come up here. Bring your Bible, brother. You don't know him, but he's friends of ours, and he's been traveling with us. We love him. They've been in our home, and we've been in theirs, and we love him. But I need somebody very distinguished looking. How does he do? Yeah, okay. So here he is. You think his name is Ed, but it's not really. Today, he's the Apostle John. He's the Apostle John. Who is this? Apostle John. Okay. Now, then there's a young guy named Gaius. Gaius is just a nice guy. Come on up here. And for today's purposes, we'll use AJ. Here he is. He lives over in this town. He's bebopping along. 98.6. Average guy. And along comes the Apostle John. And he meets him, and he takes the Bible, and he leads him to Christ. So show him how to be saved. Oh, wonderful. Pray, he got saved. All right. Now listen, if you've never been saved, I don't mean to make light of that, you need to be saved before it's too late. All the rest of this is just after that. But you've got to be saved. So how wonderful, he stays there, he disciples him, and he's with him for eleven months. You don't see it, it's in the Greek, but eleven months he was there, and then he goes on his apostle business, okay? Here he is, bebopping along, he's just happy, happy, happy, he's so excited to be a Christian man, he joins the church in his local area, he's so happy! And then he hears that there's some missionaries coming through town. Come on up here. I told you. Bring your sister, too. Come on up. Come on up. Come on up. All right, now here we are. Missionaries. These are missionaries, and they're going to Guatemala someplace. I don't know, right? OK. But wow, this young guy Gaius, he hears, hey, real life, honest to goodness missionaries, these are our champions. Man, they sold their belongings. They're going all raising money. They're going to go reach the lost around the world. and they're coming right to my house. He is twinkle dusted with this idea of real life fish dairies. He can't wait. They come to his house, come to his house. He lives over here, okay. And so while he's there, he can't wait. He's so excited. Man, he gives them the best bedroom in the house. He fixes them a big meal. He treats them like royalty. He sits up all night asking them questions. What's it like? How did you know the leading of the Lord? How did you know this is what God wants for you? And he is just thrilled to have real live honest to goodness missionaries. in the morning when they have to go and be on their way. He gives them a big breakfast. He packs a big lunch for them. He gives them a $100 gas card to put gas in their camels and off they go. Okay? In their travels, they come across the Apostle John. And John says, man, how is it out there? I know you're on your way to the foreign field. What's it like? And they go, well, it's hard to get money out of them Baptists. Wow, a pickpocket got around them and got nothing but practice. And you'll get that later. So they're telling about it. And then they said, but there's one really bright spot. Man, I'll tell you, we came across this guy named Gaius. And Gaius was so helpful, so interested, such a wonderful guy. And so if everything was like that, man, we'd be blessed to be on the deputation trail with the guys like that. Man, you probably never heard of them, did you? And John says, well, yeah, I know who Gaius is, or Gaius, depends on how you pronounce it, but I know who he is, man, I led him to Christ. It's wonderful to hear that he's still faithfully serving the Lord and all excited about the Lord's work. Man, was that wonderful. So you can just be seated here. Everything's wonderful, not you. Everything's wonderful so far, But, oh, here's the problem. This guy's pastor is a control freak. He's a micromanager. He's insecure. He's a guy who, I'm the only one that thinks around here. I'm the only one with a brain. Hey, there are pastors like that, I hate to tell you. Wow. You say, I wonder what the pastor looked like. I'm going to show you right here. Hey, ask the pastor, who can I use for a bad example that won't get offended and quit the church? You got to be careful about that. I was going to pick Brother Cash, but I got Brother Wesley, OK? But now listen. He's the pastor. He's a control freak. And he's jealous. The church is the pillar and gaurd of truth. He's the source of all human knowledge. He's the only one that can think. He tells you who to marry. He tells you whether to buy a one-story or two-story house. He warns you never to buy a Ford. I mean, right, He's in charge of you. Now, listen. He's supposed to be reflecting the authority and character of God Almighty. He's the pastor. But when he finds out that Gaius had missionaries over at his house, he says, you can't do that. You can't do that. I don't want you to. No way. I forbid you to help missionaries. I forbid you to help them along the trail. I command you, if you ever have them missionaries in there again, I'm kicking you out of the church. Well, He thought he was doing the right thing, helping missionaries. He's just right. But here's the problem. He knows he's supposed to submit and follow a pastor, right? God's either called you to pastor or He's called you to help a pastor. Right? He knows he's supposed to follow and obey and submit and get behind his pastor. But deep down in his heart and soul, He thinks his pastor is wrong. Now, what's he supposed to do? Well, let me ask you. Does he have anybody that he can ask advice from? Who does he know that he might be able to get some advice from? The Apostle John. So, you don't have it in your lap, but he writes a letter to the Apostle John. And he says to him, hey, God bless you, hope you're doing well. I've got a problem over here. My pastor says I'm not supposed to be helping these missionaries. He's jealous of them or something, but I don't know what to do. I want to be a good Christian. Am I supposed to submit to my pastor? Or what am I supposed to do? Now, you don't have his letter to John, but you do have John's letter back to him. And that's the wonderful, wonderful thing about 3rd John. Because here is the only incident in the Bible where an apostle writes to a layman. Philemon, I think, had a church in his house. The rest of it is to, you know, Peter's letters, or to the church at Rome, or the church at Philippi. But here you have a letter just to a guy. And so it starts out, if you look in the book of 3rd John, the Elder, that's John, unto the well-beloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth, right? Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. For I rejoiced greatly when the brethren came and testified of the truth that's in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth. Verse 4, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. Hey, so far so good, right? He's so glad that his disciple is following the Lord, serving the Lord. Man, he's happy, happy, happy. Verses 5 through 8 are the missions verses. Here, he talks about the brethren. It says, Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren and to strangers who have borne witness of thy charity before the church. And then look what it says. Whom if thou bring forward on their journey after a godly sort, thou shalt do well. Is that what it says in verse 6? Okay, now watch. It uses this term, bring them forward. What does it mean to bring somebody forward? Right? Help them on their journey. Help them get to where they're going, right? Is John saying he should or shouldn't help the missionary? He says, if you bring them forward on their journey after a godly sort, thou shalt do well. Then he gives the explanation. Verse 7 and 8, he says, because that for his namesake they went forth, taking nothing of the Gentiles. Hey, you know what that means? Don't expect the Episcopalians to support our Baptist missionaries. You're lost. Pildiatrist. It's probably not going to be all that enthused about helping them. It's up to us who are saved to help them. They went forth taking nothing of the Gentiles. What's it say in verse 8? We therefore ought to, and then it uses this other phrase. One phrase is bring them forward, verse 6. The other one is verse 8. We therefore ought to receive such. Why? That we might be fellow helpers to the truth. Is that what it says? Hey, is he recommending that we help these guys or not? Bring them forward. Receive them. Hey, don't treat them like second-class citizens. They're not mutinaries. They're not guys that couldn't hold a decent job. They're not people that are worthless. They're men of God, called of God, ladies of God. Treat them like that. They're just trying to get... I'm going to tell you this. Can I just step aside? I don't even know where to go to do a parenthesis. Look, the missionaries I know would never ask you for a thin dime. They're not beggars. They're not hobos at the railroad yard. They're not guys that couldn't make it. They're real men of God, called of God, and God's plan is for them to be supported through the local church. I've had missionary after missionary sit across my desk and say, well, Brother King, I don't mind going to the foreign field and facing the snakes and the spiders and the heathen. It's going to the Baptist churches and trying to get money out of them that I dread. It's too bad, isn't it? It's too bad. But listen, we have a problem. Houston, we have a problem. Because Gaius wants to help the missionaries. He thinks he's doing the right thing. And he's got a pastor who won't let him. And you say, what about the chain of command? How come the apostle didn't write to the church? How come he's talking right to Gaius? Isn't this kind of going subterfuge around the church? No. Verse 9 says, I wrote unto the church. I wrote to the church, but diatrophies, but diatrophies, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not. Oh, let me say, you gotta have some kind of brass to say, I'm not listening to the Apostle John. I don't care who you are. Oh, but we got this jealous, control freak, micromanaging, egomaniac, and he's threatened. Oh, what if he finds out that somebody else has a brain? What if he actually starts thinking for himself? Oh, what if? I don't want him to know there's other men of God. Diotrephes, who longeth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us now. Wherefore, if I come, I will remember the deeds which he doeth." Parading against us with malicious words. Listen. Listen. There's a song we like. It's a wonderful song. Maybe Brother Stanchel can sing. God will take care of you. Right? Don't we like that? Isn't that wonderful? If you're walking in fellowship with the Lord, it's a great comfort, such encouragement. But that sword cuts the other way. What we say to diatrophies, God will take care of you. Hey, he's got a hammer big enough for this. Right? And it's going to be the Apostle John. You notice something? He doesn't tell him to handle it. It's above his pay grade. But he's going to take care of it. He's going to take care of it. Right? Touch not my anointed, do my prophets no harm. But God's got a hammer big enough just for this head. Right here. Thick skull and all. Now hear me. Look what it says. Wherefore if I come, I'll remember the deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words. In other words, here, he's so threatened, he has to try to discredit the apostle. He says, not content therewith, Neither doth he himself receive the brethren. Read this! He don't love missions. He don't love missionaries. He don't want them to come through. Neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbideth them that want. Let me see. Do you know anybody that maybe would receive missionaries in the church? and casteth them out of the church." Is that what it says? Hey, listen, does this guy have a problem? We're down to verse 10 and he's got a problem. Would he receive the brethren and help them along? Yes, he would. Does he want him to? No, he don't. Is he supposed to follow this? Verse 11 is the verse of advice. Beloved! John writing to Gaius. Beloved! Follow not that which is evil. Don't give God a black eye. Don't blame this on God. Sure, He stands in the position, but He's not worthy of the title. You happen to see the west end of a horse going east. Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God, but notice what it says, but he that doeth evil, end of verse 11, hath not seen God. Don't give God a black eye. You've got a rotten pastor. I'm sorry. He does not say, get all the sheep together and butt the shepherd out of the pasture. He does not say. Start spreading gossip. He does not say. Start sowing discord. He does not say. You tell him this, that, or the other thing. That isn't his job. Right? God's going to take care of that. Don't you worry. Look back at verse 11. Beloved, Follow not that which is evil. What's the next word? But, but, but, why? Why? I'll tell you why. Because sheep need a shepherd. Sheep not having a shepherd are scattered. You can't say, hey, don't follow the preacher. You can't say that. unless there's a plan. He needs a pastor. He needs a pastor. Let me see. The issue that Gaius is dealing with is a rotten pastor. And John is writing to this very sincere layman and says, follow not that which is evil. That which is good. You've got to find a preacher you can follow. You need a pastor. So I'm going to have Pastor King. It's Aaron to me, you guys. Verse 12. Demetrius, Demetrius, Hath good report of all men. Hey, read Timothy and Titus. That's the qualification of a pastor. Do you think somebody who's got a right reputation in the public and among the Christians think that's important? Demetrius hath good report of all men. What about this? The next part of verse 12, and of the truth itself. Think he has to be sound in doctrine? Think he better have orthodox theology? Think he better rightly divide the word of truth? You think he ought to preach the Bible with truth and verity and authority? And then John says, and I also bear record, and you know our record is true. I also give him my approbation or my recommendation. Is that what it says in the first 12? Hey, look, Gaius, I love you. And I'm so sorry that you had that experience. Don't stir up trouble. Let God take care of that. But you find a pastor that you can follow. And I know just one in your area named Demetrius. He gets it. It isn't about him. It's about him. It's not about his own little pet doctrine. It's about the Word of God. It's not about some petty agenda. It's about reaching souls around the world. Demetrius, half good report of all men and all of the truth itself, but we also recommend him. You say, what about the rest of the book? It doesn't say anything. God bless you. I hope to see you pretty soon. All of third John is about this and the verses of advice are 11 and 12. Don't follow that. But do follow this, he that doeth good is of God. So as we start the missions conference, I am so excited about the message tonight. Please come tonight, but I want to just challenge you with this single thought. You have to decide, is this church and this pastor worth being a part of. You have to decide. You're going to do something. You're going to buy a snowmobile, or you're going to buy a Jeep, or you're going to take a vacation. You're going to do something with your resources, and that is between you and God. That's not my job to be between you and God on that. But what you do in church ought to be behind a good, godly pastor who's trying to reach the world with the gospel of Christ. So you walk in Zion Hill Baptist Church and the pastor says, let's put flags around. Let's have prayer. Let's invite missionaries. Let's get special speakers. Let's pick out songs that have to do with winning souls. And then let's pray that our church will unite for missions. Now listen, it doesn't have His picture in verse 12, but it might as well have. It might as well have. Find a pastor who gets this, that says, hey, we're working together, but we're trying to reach the world. It's all about helping the missionaries, not about our little world here. And then follow that. Follow not that which is evil, but, that same verse says, that which is good. And so when he says, God's led me to have a missions conference." And he strides out by faith and says, God wants us to do more for missions than we've done in the past. And he strides out in faith. You know what that same verse says for you to do? Follow that example. Follow that example. You can be seated. I'd like heads bowed and eyes closed. And I'm going to just close with this one thing. This is just the opening service for our Missions Conference, but I can't tell you how much I believe every inch of what this book says. And so I'm going to ask you while heads are bowed and eyes are closed, I'd like the pianist to just begin to play over here the invitation if you would, Mrs. Baker. But while heads are bowed and eyes are closed,
The Authority and Character of God
Series Missions Conference Feb. 2015
"Follow not that which is evil, but that which is good," such as, your Pastor's heart for missions.
Sermon ID | 21515132311 |
Duration | 36:39 |
Date | |
Category | Sunday Service |
Bible Text | John |
Language | English |
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