Please open up your Bibles now to the inspired word of the Lord through John's third epistle. I'm gonna read through the entire epistle, but we're gonna be focusing particularly on verses three and four tonight. Here now the inspired word of the Lord. The elder, and that's referring to the apostle John, The Elder, to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth. Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. For I rejoiced greatly when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in you, just as you walk in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the brethren and for strangers who have borne witness of your love before the church. If you send them forward on their journey in a manner worthy of God, you do well, because they went forth for his name's sake. Taking nothing from the Gentiles, we therefore ought to receive such that we may become fellow partakers or workers for the truth. I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among them, does not receive us. Therefore, if I come, I will call to mind his deeds, which he does, prating against us with malicious words, and not content with that, he himself does not receive the brethren, and forbids those who wish to, putting them out of the church. Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good, He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God. Demetrius has a good testimony from all, and from the truth itself, and we also bear witness, and you know that our testimony is true. I had many things to write, but I do not wish to write you with pen and ink, but I hope to see you shortly, and we shall speak face to face. Peace to you, our friends greet you, Greet the friends by name. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we share in the prayer of your son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He prayed that his disciples would be sanctified by your truth. Your word is truth. Lord, that is our prayer this evening. Make us holy as you are holy. Pour out your Holy Spirit upon us and give us understanding and insight into your word. And please, by your Holy Spirit, give us the strength to trust and obey your word and not just be hearers of your word, but doers of your word. Lord God, by your Holy Spirit tonight, soften our hardened hearts. Draw the unbeliever to saving faith in your son, the Lord Jesus Christ, in your mercy and your love. And Lord God, also in your mercy and your love, strengthen each and every believer here. Help us to grow in the love and faith and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And please so equip us to walk in truth. We thank you, Lord, for hearing these prayers. And we ask all these things in your son's name. Amen. We've had quite a bit of sad news this past week. You may not be aware of it, but early in the week, a notable leading evangelical renounced his faith in Jesus Christ. And the news media took great pleasure and joy in that. Joshua Harris, who wrote quite a best-selling book amongst evangelicals and Christians in the early 90s about dating and courtship, has renounced all his views found in that book. He has since divorced his wife, and now he is openly and publicly saying in order to maintain his intellectual integrity, he has to renounce his Christian faith. That's heartbreaking. It's equally heartbreaking that within 24 hours, over 50 people are shot in public places. Is there no wonder that our society has become so violent, so bloodthirsty, so murderous, so evil, so wicked, when the outward visible church of Christ is not honoring and glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ and walking in the truth of Jesus Christ. You'll hear in the news media that the reason for these shootings is because of Donald Trump, a corrupt government. You'll hear that it's over racism. You'll hear that it's over psychological and emotional defects and dysfunction. You'll hear that it's about, oh, we just have too many guns in our society. We have a gun culture. But the Bible tells us something quite different. The Bible tells us we're sinful people. and we neither seek God or his righteousness, and we're quick to shed blood. When we become so depraved, so self-deceived, so self-destructive with our sin, that manifests itself in the shedding of blood, an outward vicious murder. There was a time in our world history when man became so bloodthirsty, so murderous, so sinful, so depraved, that God decided to destroy his creation through a flood. Are we in the days of Noah? Perhaps. I didn't live in the days of Noah, so I don't know if we're as bad as those times or not. I know one thing hasn't changed since the days of Noah. We're a bloodthirsty, violent people. And it's no wonder when the church has stopped preaching the gospel, has stopped preaching the truth, has stopped preaching that God is holy, holy, holy, and man is sinful, sinful, sinful. And that God in his grace and his mercy and his goodness and his long suffering and his love, in spite of man being so sinful, he still sent his son Jesus Christ into this world to save people from their sin. and make them a new creation and make them holy as he is holy and give them eternal life so they may know him and know his son Jesus Christ. When the church is not preaching the gospel we shouldn't be shocked and surprised that the world around us becomes so wicked, so evil, so violent, so bloodthirsty. So I don't lay the burden or the responsibility on Donald Trump. I don't lay the burden and the responsibility on a Democratic Congress. I don't lay the burden and the responsibility that we don't have enough gun laws in this country. I don't lay the burden on psychological defects and emotional disorders. I lay the responsibility at the foot of the outward visible church, because we have not been walking in truth. I speak to you as someone who's grown up in the church. I speak to you as someone who is converted at a very young age to saving faith in Jesus Christ. I speak to you as one who has seen just about every movement under the sun you can find in the church. I remember when that book came out about saying, oh, you know, we as Christians, we shouldn't be dating. We should have courtships. People in the reform camp, in fact, many people in reform churches were advocating that, saying, oh yeah, no, with our Christian young people, they shouldn't be dating. We should be institutionalizing the old tradition of courtship. And it wouldn't hurt if parents helped arrange the marriages of their children. There were people in the reform camp holding to those views. I'm not here to say that's wrong. What I'm here to say is wrong is when we preach moralism without the gospel. When we talk about family values and we don't share the gospel. When we tell people to be righteous and obey God's law and we don't teach them In their own strength they can't obey God's law. That all their morality, all their righteousness in of itself is nothing but filthy rags. And that morality can only come about by a converted heart to Jesus Christ and by the regenerating and renewing work of the Holy Spirit in their lives. So I've seen that extreme in the church of just simply preaching morality without the gospel. And I've seen the extreme of the other direction of where we've preached about love and tolerance. And we should so be accepting of people's sin because they're only human and we're no better than they are. So don't preach about sin. Don't call people out on their sin. Don't call them out on their immorality. Don't discipline anyone in the church. That's unloving. That's intolerant. That's hateful. Once again, ignoring the truth of the gospel. The gospel calls us out as sinners, and the reason why the gospel is good news is because Christ came into this world to save us from the power and penalty of sin. How can people know to be saved from the power and penalty of sin if they don't know they're sinners? And people at the heart of all these movements, of all these extreme ideologies that have permeated our church in my 60 years of life, is man thinking he knows better than God. And man making himself God. And man defining what love is. And man defining what morality is. Instead of what the gospel and the scriptures teach. What morality is. And what love is. The truth of God's word. The modern day evangelical church in America has not been walking in that truth. That's why we're in 3 John tonight. This man Gaius is being commended by the apostle John as a man who walks in truth. We don't know anything more about Gaius than what we find in this small, short epistle, which many of you could easily overlook. You can jump right to 1 John and forget about 2 and 3 John and even Jude and rush right into Revelation. But this very special book is here for a very special reason and all of God's word is profitable. and meant to edify us and build us up in the love and faith and knowledge of Jesus Christ. And each of us here tonight should be thankful for God raising a man like Gaius up. Like I said, we don't know anything more about him than what we find in this epistle. And we're not even clear as to what his role in the church was. There's no indication that he was some great prophet. There's no indication that he was some great Bible teacher. There's no indication that he was some great teacher of the law. There's no indication here that he knew the other apostles. One of the things that we find on the New Testament accounts is there's a lot to hear about the Apostle John. We have his gospel. We have his three epistles. We have the revelation of Jesus Christ given to him. We see a lot about John and learn a lot about John. We don't know a lot about this man, Gaius, except that he walked in truth. And that's a good thing. Let's be thankful that Gaius was just an everyday Ordinary Christian. Because when we look at ourselves, isn't that how we see ourselves? Just ordinary, day-to-day Christians? We're not great prophets. We're not great apostles. We're not holy, holy, holy people. Like Enoch. Oh, the Bible tells us Enoch's walk with the Lord was so close. He walked with the Lord, he knew the Lord, he worshiped and served the Lord, his God with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength that he was translated. He never faced physical death. He was actually brought up right into the heavens with God because he walked so closely with him. What a holy, holy, holy man. We're not Elijah's, we're not great prophets. who performed miraculous wonders and signs to the people of Israel and the surrounding nations at a time of Israel's civil war, and pointed all the people of Israel to God with great power and great signs and wonders, who was so faithful to the Lord God Almighty that he too was translated, brought up into the heavens. without facing physical death, because he was such a holy, holy, holy man. Now this is in Greek Orthodox tradition. There's no biblical record of this. And in all honesty, I don't think there's any historical record of this. And I think if it was true, it would be recorded in the scriptures. But there are those in the Greek Orthodox Church who hold to that the Apostle John was such a great man of God that he too didn't face physical death and was translated, brought right up into heaven without facing physical death. And I point that out, once again, not to say that that's biblically true, like I said, but I don't believe it is. But I point it out to show just how John has been perceived throughout history, being this great, holy, holy man. When we think of walking with the Lord, that's what we think of. We think of these people who are super Christians. That's why we're so blessed to hear about a man like Gaius. An ordinary everyday Christian, yes, even ordinary everyday Christians can walk in truth and know the Lord Jesus Christ and know God the Father and be led and blessed by the Holy Spirit at work in them and through them. And I say that as an encouragement and as an exhortation. Let us be encouraged that no, we don't have to measure up to some great level of Christianity before we can walk with God and know God. Let's also be exhorted and fearfully warned that God expects us to walk with him, regardless of who we are and regardless of what our role and our position is in the church, or regardless of what level of maturity we're at as Christians. You're expected to walk with God. You're expected to walk in his truth. And Gaius' walk in truth, this ordinary day-to-day Christian, his walk was evident. And it impacted the church. But before we go any further, Let's understand what's meant by walking in truth. And you see this phrase repeated throughout, even just these two verses. For I rejoiced greatly when brethren came and testified of the truth that is in you. Just as you walk in truth, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. What is this truth that is in Gaius' life? What is this truth that he's living his life by and walking his life by? What does John continually repeat and emphasize and declare? You think I repeat myself in my sermons? Have you read the Apostle John lately? Have you read his gospel? Have you read 1st and 2nd and 3rd John? Have you read the book of the Revelation? He is constantly pointing us to the reality, to the truth, that Jesus Christ is the truth. not moral living, not being loving of one another. The truth is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Logos. John made it clear at the beginning of his epistle. The word, the logos, the truth, the ultimate definition of life came into this world. Jesus Christ came into this world. Eternal, almighty, holy, sovereign God, righteous God came into this world and became a man. The creator and sustainer of all life. the one who defines everything that life is about, the reason why we are all created and we're all here, the Lord Jesus Christ, the logos, the word, the truth, the life came into this world. And Jesus declared to his disciples, I am the way, the truth, and the life. Morality outside of Jesus Christ is no morality at all. Love outside of Jesus Christ is no love at all. It's Jesus Christ who gives essence and meaning to holy, righteous living and moral living. It's Jesus Christ who gives essence to truly loving and forgiving and being tolerant of others. It's the truth of Jesus Christ that is within Gaius. It's because of who Jesus Christ is and what he's done that he's living his life in accordance to Jesus Christ and the truth of his word. That's the truth. The truth about who Jesus Christ was. Eternal, holy, sovereign God who became a man and dwelt amongst us, who made God's glory known to us, who perfectly obeyed God's word for us, who was crucified and paid for our sins once and for all for us, who was resurrected and raised from the dead for us, the way, the truth, and the life. That's what truth is. and everything that's going on in your life is subject to that truth, that truth that our eternal almighty holy God came into this world to save you from the power of sin and to give you eternal life, to know God and to know him. That's the truth that's being talked about here. That's the truth that needs to be proclaimed in our pulpits. And Gaius knew everything in his life was subject to that truth about who Jesus Christ is. This week, we're all going to Pinebrook. And we're all gonna learn about how Christians should deal with suffering and affliction and trials. I'm here to tell you tonight, you will never understand your sufferings. You will never understand your trials. You will never understand your afflictions. If you first don't know the truth about Jesus Christ, that eternal, almighty, holy God came into this world to take care of your greatest need and address your greatest suffering, the death caused by sin in you. We're told in the scriptures to make every thought captive to the truth of who Jesus Christ is and what he's done. Gaius lived his life, that's what's meant by walk, how you live your life. He lived his life based on who Jesus Christ is and what Jesus Christ accomplished for him. He saw every aspect of his life in the light of who Jesus Christ is. He saw his family, he saw his health, he saw his work, he saw his relationships, everything going on in his life. He saw that subject to who Jesus Christ is and what he did for us. Are you walking in that truth? Is that truth in you? If that truth is in you, You're not going to be able to live with sin in your life. You're not going to be able to live with griping and complaining about your circumstances. You're not going to be letting what CNN tells you or Fox News tells you direct your life. If that truth is in you, And you're going to let the peace of God reign within you. You're going to let his word dwell within you with all wisdom and understanding as the Apostle Paul tells us. You're going to see everything going on in your life subject to the truth of the gospel, to who Jesus Christ is and what he did for you. And you're going to know that nothing that you're going through in your life even begins to compare in no way, shape, or form to any measurable amount. Nothing, nothing, nothing compares to the truth that Jesus Christ, holy, eternal, almighty God came into this world and suffered for you and obeyed the law for you. and was crucified for you, and took on the wrath of God for you, and paid for your sins once and for all for you, and he was raised up for you again, so that you know your sins are taken away, you know you have eternal life, because Christ is risen, risen indeed. And you're going to press on in your life. And you're going to seek to be moral and holy because Christ died to make you moral and holy. You're going to be loving because Christ died for you to be loving and forgiving and understanding and tolerant of others. You're not going to look to yourself anymore. You're not going to think you know better than God anymore. You're not thinking you can do it in your own strength anymore. As you're walking in that truth, in fact, you're gonna learn more and more and more and more about Jesus. You're gonna learn more and more, Jesus, on nothing. I can't do it. I need you. I wish I knew at six years old and at 16 years old what I'm only beginning to learn now at 60. How much more would I have lived for Christ? And at the same token, I'm sitting there saying, oh, thank you, Jesus, for not giving up on me when I was six years old. Thanks for not giving up on me when I was 16 years old, and thank you for not giving up on me when I'm 60 years old. Thank you for being so gracious. Thank you for being so merciful. Make me more like you by your power, your grace, your strength. And this walk in truth isn't just about Gaius. This walk in truth isn't just about Dave Corson. Yes, we are all individually impacted and blessed when Christ is in us and working in us and strengthening us and leading us in our day-to-day lives and we're walking with him. Our lives are blessed by that. And we're encouraged by that. And we press on in our faith. It impacts us individually, that's true. I'm not taking away from that. But what we see from the Apostle John here The greater reality, the greater wonder, the greater truth here, so to speak, is that Gaius' walk in truth is impacting those around him. It's a witness to others. It's a blessing to others. When you're a witness, when you're walking in truth, you're being a witness. You're testifying to who Jesus Christ is and his life changing power in your life. And how his gospel has turned you from sin and turned you to his righteousness. How Jesus Christ has made you a loving person to love God and love one another. When you're doing that and you're walking in that truth, you're being a testimony to other people. I'm gonna embarrass Denise Todder tonight. She's not here, so I can do that. Is that okay, Doug? Yeah. But she has such a great testimony. I don't think she will mind me, or she'll at least forgive me for embarrassing her here tonight. I don't know, was it two years ago, three years ago, Doug and Denise were sharing with Jill and I how they met, and how Denise came to know the lawyer. Jill was asking that question. She loves to ask that question. She's always asking other couples, how did you guys meet? I think she's basically asking that question because she's trying to figure out where she went wrong with me. But she asked Denise, how'd you come to know the Lord? And she said, Doug led me to the Lord. He kept witnessing to me. And you know what I couldn't get over? He was such a nice guy. If I'm embarrassing you, Doug, or embarrassing you, please forgive me. But it's a great testimony. Doug's walk in truth. Doug knowing the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ changing Pastor Doug's heart and mind and will around. Pastor Doug, walking with Christ, abiding in Christ, Christ being the vine, he being the branches, he was bearing fruit of the Lord Jesus Christ in his life. He was showing the fruit of the Spirit. He was showing kindness and goodness and patience. And I know every person in this room tonight has been blessed by that same fruit of the Spirit. We all know how patient, understanding and loving and forgiving Pastor Doug is with us. Especially the son-in-law, Joe, back there. I can't get through a sermon without picking on Joe at least once. That's the fruit of the Spirit. That's being a testimony. Now, please don't mistake what I'm saying here tonight. We are also to be a testimony and a witness with our words. I'm not one of these people who gets up and says, oh, share the gospel, and when necessary, use words. No, that's not a biblical statement. The scriptures are very clear. The word of God, the gospel, needs to be proclaimed. It needs to be preached. We need to be able to articulate to our family, friends, and neighbors, and even those who persecute us. We need to be able to verbally say to them, we are sinners and we are saved only by Jesus Christ, by his perfect obedience to the law, by his crucifixion, by his resurrection. And people need to repent and call upon his name and believe in him. We need to state the gospel. But we are also required to live out the gospel and to be a witness. We are required, if we're really in Christ and Christ is in us, if we're walking in his truth, his Holy Spirit is going to be within us. And the fruit of that spirit is going to be evident in us. It's a witness to other people. And it's a blessing. I love that John sits here and says, I rejoice greatly. I have no greater joy when I see people walking in truth. Okay, it's when I see you walking in truth. This brought joy. This brought blessing. to those around him. That's what walking in truth does. You're a blessing to others. This is why the apostle Paul says to believing spouses, stay with your unbelieving spouse and walk in truth. Show them Christ. You're blessing them. They're better off, as an unbeliever, they're still better off being married to you, a believer, than being divorced from you. They're being blessed by your walk in Christ and you showing and demonstrating the fruit of the Spirit in your life to them. You're a blessing. I've said it before from the pulpit and I'll say it again, and some of you may still disagree with me on this, but I'm here to tell you. The United States of America was never a Christian nation. It was a nation greatly influenced by Christianity. There's a difference. And this nation will not know the blessings that it knows today if true believers in Jesus Christ were not living in this country for over 240 years and blessing this nation. We think we're politically polarized now. We were just as politically polarized in 1775 when we took up arms against the Crown of England. You had people like Thomas Jefferson calling it a revolution. You had people like George Washington calling it a war for independence. They were not in political agreement, even within families. Samuel and John Adams were two very different Adamses, even though they were cousins. Sam Adams was a lot more radical than John. John was much more conservative. And we fought a bloody conflict, began in 1775 and didn't end until 1783, until England finally surrendered to us. We were a nation conceived in violence. And many of the issues that were going on in the founding of our nation were still there and still perpetuating and still boiling over for another hundred years when we fought a violent, violent, violent civil war where over 600,000 men lost their lives. We lost an entire generation of men. And dare I say it, and many of the issues that still polarize our nation today still stem back to our American Civil War, we are a violent, violent, bloodthirsty nation. We've assassinated four presidents and had at least a dozen other attempts on other presidents. We're a violent culture. We're a torn culture. We've been at odds with each other and fighting with each other for over 240 years. What has made the difference? It's because the love of Christ has been impacting this nation for 240 years. The truth of who Jesus Christ is has been impacting this nation for 240 years. The love and forgiveness that Christians show to one another, the love and forgiveness that they show to other people has kept this culture, has kept this nation from being torn apart at the seams and destroying itself. When the church is walking in truth, it is a blessing to those around them. We're impacting the world. See, it's not about us and just our personal individual circumstances. Our walk with Christ is, yes, please, I don't want to take away. We all need to individually be walking with Christ. But our walk with Christ changes the lives of those around us. As Pastor Mark preached here a couple of weeks back, we're here to be salt and light. We're to help preserve the culture and the society around us. We're only salt and light If we're walking in truth and we're walking by the light of who Jesus Christ is and what Jesus Christ has done in our lives. We need to be a testimony to others. We need to be a blessing to others. We need to hold people accountable to the Lord Jesus Christ. They need to see Christ. Thank God, God saved me. Six years of age. Actually, he's younger than that. But thank God he saved me as a young man. Thank God he convicted me of my sin. Thank God he removed any fear of condemnation and wrath. But I didn't know Christ wanted me to worship him and serve him. and be a blessing to others. Like I said, that's taken me 60 years. I need to walk in truth so that my own life may be impacted, so that I can grow in the love and faith and knowledge of Jesus Christ, so that I can glorify Jesus Christ and impact the lives of others. As we've already said here tonight, that was evident in this little-known man, Gaius. Just an average, everyday, ordinary Christian. May that be our walk. May we truly understand the truth Why Jesus kept saying, truthfully, truthfully, verily, verily, I'm speaking the truth to you. I am the way, the truth, and the life. Remain in me. Abide in me. I am the vine. You are the branches. Plagiarizing Pastor Mark before now, I'm plagiarizing Pastor Doug tonight. But see, this is how God's Word works. It all ties together. And it's all the truth found in Jesus Christ. We need to walk in him so we may glorify him. So we may impact our own lives and impact the lives of others. And we can't do it without him. So let's go to him now in prayer and ask him to help us to walk with him. Lord God in heaven, we thank you and praise you for making your glory known to us and your love known to us through your son, Jesus Christ, the way, the truth, and the life, the logos, the meaning of all life, and our great savior who saved us from sin and death that robs us of life, robs us from knowing you. We thank you, Lord God, that you reconciled us to you through your son, Jesus Christ, so that we could know you, so that we could worship you, so that we could grow in our love and faith and knowledge of you, so that we could serve you, so we could make your love known to those around us. Oh Lord God, we thank you for your son, Jesus. Oh Lord, keep us in him. You've promised us, Lord God, in your word that nothing can snatch us out of your hand. Oh, Lord God, keep us in your Son, Jesus Christ. Lord Jesus, may we abide in you. May we remain in you. May we walk with you. May we pray without ceasing. May we study your word day and night. May we acknowledge you in all our ways. May we confess our sins before you and seek your forgiveness and seek your cleansing. and seek your grace and seek your strength and your wisdom. And oh Lord Jesus, please continue to strengthen us and lead us each day. May we hide your word in our hearts. May it be a light unto our paths. So Lord God, we know how to deal and confront and endure any circumstance that comes our way. Knowing Lord Jesus that you'll never leave us nor forsake us and you're right there with us. May we let the peace of God rule in our hearts and our lives. May we let the word of God dwell richly within us with all wisdom and understanding. May we walk in truth. May we walk in your son Jesus Christ. So that Lord Jesus we may glorify you. And that other people can see the Lord Jesus Christ in us and that all men be held accountable before the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, Lord God, make us more moral, make us more loving, but to the glory of your son, Jesus Christ, by the power of your son, Jesus Christ, by the love of your son, Jesus Christ. Oh, Lord God, please help us to walk with you in such a way, by your Holy Spirit, by your holy perfect will. Lord God, I pray for any person here tonight who does not know the Lord Jesus Christ, the Logos, the Word, the Way, the Truth, and the Life. O Lord God, bring them into your light. Bring them into the truth of your Word. By your Holy Spirit, draw them to saving faith in you, the Lord Jesus Christ. And may they too walk in your truth and live their lives in full surrender, full understanding, and acceptance of your truth, knowing, Lord God, that you're a gracious, merciful, loving God who's willing to forgive them and cleanse them of their sins and make them holy as you are holy. Oh, Lord God, finish that work in each of us, that good work you started in each of us. Bring that work to completion, Lord God. Make us holy as you are holy, so that your name may be glorified, so that your holy perfect will may be done. And we ask these things, Lord God, because you're a gracious, merciful, loving God. And we ask these things in the name of the way, the truth, and the life, the Lord Jesus Christ. We ask all these things. Amen.