Third John, we have been looking at 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John. Tonight, we're concluding. This is the last of the lessons that we are going to be looking at. I'm going to finish up the chapter this evening, and we're going to be moving into revival. And then following revival, we'll see what the Lord does for the next area of study, what we'll be looking at on Thursday nights here. But we are concluding this. It's been a fun study. I've enjoyed it. And it's fed and nourished me. If you're in Third John there, we looked last week and had the privilege of studying. It just seems a little bit hot still. I'm being real quiet too, so I'm not going to be able to raise my voice at all without We're gonna play with that a little bit. All right, so we had the privilege last week of looking at the testimony of this man that lived and enjoyed a blessed life, a life blessed by God. Not a life necessarily that would be, you know, he didn't necessarily enjoy all the privileges of this life. He didn't, we saw possibly he dealt with some physical ailments or maybe some financial struggles like many of us, but he was blessed of God and that truly is a blessed life. And we got to see that as he enjoyed a righteous love, was loved by many, including John, he endowed a radical loyalty, that he walked in truth, his conviction matched his conduct. And we praise the Lord for people who practice what they preach, amen, who live what they say they believe. And that goes a long ways. The world's had enough of hypocrisy. The world's had enough of people just saying one thing and then doing another. And so we saw this. Gaius, his life was blessed by God because his convictions matched his conduct. And then he embraced a required labor that he was faithful to do what God asked of him. And he labored to do what he should do. We saw that last week. I need to maybe clarify one thought or maybe just, I felt like I kind of misapplied and not wholeheartedly, but last week, just right in my mind in my study, I wrote it down and it went right along with what I was teaching and went along with the idea of what was in the context there with a guy who you saw him, how he was hospitable and he cared for others. And so I said, man, he's generous. And I saw the word charity, and I think of charity in the idea of giving. And so I use that giving, but in the text, that word charity literally is love. It is not the charity is uncharitable. And so that was a misinterpretation of that to try and call that generosity, although somebody that loves probably could be generous or would be generous. So that could be applied that way. But last night, as I looked at that idea of just charity, and I just took it as as being generous as having a giving spirit. I just wanted to clarify that for you that I kind of jumped the gun and didn't look real clearly at that verse and maybe misapplied that, but wanted to clarify that for you. But we saw that he in our text here that John begins by complimenting Gaius. He just really talks about Gaius and this man and his life and how good of a man he was. But then this evening, we're gonna see how he condemns Diotrephes and he commends Demetrius. Then he gives us some concluding thoughts. I want you to follow along with me as we begin in verse number nine and read down through the end of the verse. I wrote unto the church, but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not. Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth. Demetrius hath good report of all men, and of the truth itself, yea, and we also bear record, and ye know that our record is true. I have many things to write, but I will not with ink and pen write unto thee, but I trust I shall shortly see thee, and we shall speak face to face. Peace be to thee, our friends salute thee, greet the friends by name. We see these concluding thoughts here. We mentioned, as we laid out this chapter, the idea, the conflict that had arisen, that there was some in the church, and we'll see tonight specifically, diatrophies, who did not want to continue to care for the evangelists, to support or feed the preachers that would come through and give or have other guys come in and teach and instruct the church. You know, I can see how this would happen in a time frame like that where the early church was starting and you would have a missionary like Paul or somebody like that come through and start a church. I think about it like in early America when you had the circuit riding preachers. You had those guys would come into town, and they would get out the Bible, and they would preach, thus saith the Lord, and some people would get saved, and they would gather together, and they would form a church. And this circuit-riding preacher, being the only one who had knowledge of the Scriptures, who was ordained of God, would ride a circuit. He would come through, and he would preach, and maybe only one Sunday a month he would be at this particular place, but he would come through, and he would preach, and he would help, and he would exhort the church and challenge them. And then other services, you would have one of the men of the church maybe get up and read a passage of scripture and talk about it. But this founding pastor, the evangelist or the preacher that came through, I could see what would happen in a church like that over time, if you can in your mind's eye picture it, that all of a sudden this group of people gets formed. And they start meeting week and week and week in and week out on their own. They start to form and have their own identity. And then all of a sudden, this preacher from out of town wants to come in and tell them how they're supposed to have church. And you could see where they could get kind of like, wait a minute, this is our church. Who are you? Well, I'm the one under God's direction and God's plan was brought to this place that helped form this church, and I'm here to help and to guide and to serve, and I could see how that would happen. And so I think in the situation here in the early church, it was probably something like that. where all of a sudden these men inside the church decided they didn't want John's input. They wanted to do it their way or whatever it might be. They had decided, you know what, we don't need any outside influence. We don't need any evangelists coming in and teaching the church. We've got enough Bible knowledge right here on site. We've got enough people here that can do it. And we're good. We don't need any of that. And yet John tried to encourage them and exhort them. Listen, there are false teachers. You got to guard against those. But there are some men whom God has given and he has called them a gift and a blessing to the church. And you should take them in. You should be hospitable to them. You should support them. And so we see here. by way of outline tonight, first of all, a rebellious leader, the example of a rebellious leader in verses nine and 10. Can I tell you that no one can do more harm to a church any faster than a leader who's been out of shape? Beloved, anybody can hurt the church. Any member can hurt the church. Anybody can cause division or cause a problem, and that hurts everybody. But you take that to a whole other level when it's a leader that causes the problem. When it's a leader that creates the division, the average person doesn't have the magnitude of influence that a leader has. Someone who has been given influence in the church and decides that they don't want to go that direction or do that, they can create great harm. Diotrephes had obviously been risen to a point of influence. He says he would not receive them. And somehow he had enough influence, it says in the text, that he was able to forbid others. from receiving." So he had a measure of leadership. I don't know, you know, all the commentators I read on this passage do not believe that he was necessarily a, what you might call a bishop or a pastor of the church. Possibly he was functioning or in the role of a deacon, but he obviously had been given some measure of leadership. It was recognizable, and people recognized his leadership. Sometimes that happens just because people are leaders, and they, God just, you know, blessed them with the skill or ability to lead others, and so they just kind of start running things, and maybe that happened, but whatever it is, he had been risen to the point of having some influence, and he had gained a group of followers that supported his thoughts. Because of his influence, he was able to gather others around him. I remember in El Paso, Texas, we built this church. I say we, I mean, I was a kid. I probably created more problems than I did helping. But, you know, dad started this church from scratch and just outdoor knocking. And he wanted to build a church and he wanted to have a church in downtown El Paso. But he was out in the desert. We were living in the desert. And while he's living in the desert, he kept winning people the Lord, which is the way it should be. Dad kept winning these people the Lord and he just kept telling them whenever we get the church down in town, you can drive to town and be with us. So he thought, well, I don't these are new saints. I don't want to just leave them until we get the church started. So I'll just start having a Bible study at my house. And he just started having six, eight, 10, 15, 20 people at the house for Bible study. And ultimately, God convinced him that the problem is, is you're not supposed to be in downtown Baltimore, downtown El Paso, you're supposed to be out here in the middle of the desert is where your church is supposed to be. Well, he started the church and in three years, we had a high day of 352. God blessed greatly. The thing is, is in that area, we had a very large Spanish speaking population. So dad brought in a Spanish speaking pastor. We were running at that time, maybe about 200, and about 70 of those were just Spanish-speaking. Dad could lead somebody to the Lord in Spanish. He could generally kind of communicate in Spanish, but he felt he couldn't pastor. He couldn't sit down with them and talk about the needs in their family. He couldn't feel like he could effectively really pastor or minister to those because he did not truly understand their language. So he brought in a Spanish pastor and this Spanish pastor was at the church for about nine months. And then he came in one Sunday and said, I'm taking my church and we're going across the street. It wasn't his church, but he had gained influence with those. And he took 70 of Victory Baptist Church members and literally across the street, like if he took that white house right over there, and started a Spanish church. It took 70 people from Victory Baptist Church over there to start his church. What I'm saying is you got to be careful. As a leader, the Bible says you have a greater condemnation. You are going to be held responsible for what you do, for how you treat the house of God and the people of God. A leader can create and cause great problems in a church. Here's the only thing that's said about this man. We don't know anything else about him. He's not mentioned anywhere else in the scriptures. And as I thought about this, I thought, what a sad commentary for this man's life. He's not remembered for all of what he did, but he's remembered for how he finished. Can I tell you, beloved, it really is more important how you finish than how you start. The Bible says, better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof. You might start off poorly, but you can finish strong. You might start off really good, but you want to still finish strong. On Sunday, several people gave a testimony. I don't remember exactly who it was or whatever, but I know under the tent there, several people were saying, man, I just want to finish. I just want to finish strong. I just want to reach the end of my days and having been faithful to God and done what God wanted. We see here that all these years later that diatrophies, I imagine that he did many things in the church that were of value. Imagine he did many things that were blessed many people. But what is recorded for us and what he is remembered for, here is how he finished. What about his life caused him to leave such a sad legacy? Well, I want you to see in the text here, there's several things. First of all, we see that he sought the preeminence. He sought the preeminence. You know, seeking the preeminence always leads to problems. The Bible says very clearly to humble yourself and God will lift you up. But when we in and of ourselves seek after and long for the limelight, long for the preeminence in whatever situation it is, it will lead to problems. You see, his motivation for doing what he did was pride, not love. He was motivated to do something out of pride for what he would be recognized for, what he would be patted on the back for, what he would be promoted for, instead of love for God and love for the church. It's this kind of Christian who's always available to open in prayer, but never available to come early and open the church. It's this kind of Christian who's always available to teach a class, but never available to take out the trash. It's the kind of Christian who would be glad to go out with the fellowship with the guest speaker, but couldn't find time to go help the needy. Somebody who wants to always give his opinion, but not too interested in hearing somebody else's opinions. This kind of individual usually resists new ideas unless the ideas were his. This kind of person would never miss a business meeting, but can't find his way to get here for work party. You see, that's the kind of person, the motivation is, where will I be seen? Where will I be recognized? Where will I be heard? Instead of where can I serve? What can I do? What it is doesn't really matter, I just want to serve. We've got to be careful, beloved, that in our heart's desire, it is human nature to seek the preeminence, so we must fight against that. We must put ourselves down, and I must decrease, and he may increase. It's something that in our heart and mind must ever be present, because it is human nature to seek the preeminence. It is human nature to desire to be lifted up, and excolled, and applauded. And therefore, we must guard our hearts against that Christian, Jesus, even with the disciples, who surely were great Christians. In Luke 22, 24, it says, And there was also strife among them. Which of them should be accounted the greatest? They were seeking the preeminence. But Jesus said unto them in verse number 26, But ye shall not be so. But he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. Seeking the preeminence, brother, always leads to strife. We've got to guard our hearts against it. Philippians 2, 3, and 4 says, let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. We got to guard our heart. that we are not, that we don't have the spirit of diatrophies, where we're seeking the preeminence. We also see here, secondly, about what caused him to leave this kind of a legacy. We see that he shunned the pastor. You see in verse number 10 there, he says, wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds. I'm sorry, verse number nine. I wrote unto the church, but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not. Receiveth us not. He said, no, I don't want to spend time with him. I don't want to have anything to do with him. Usually one who wants the preeminence doesn't want to be around the leader. And he has a problem when they want to lead, they have a problem with anybody else who's leading. And it doesn't really matter if we're talking about the pastor or we're talking about a Sunday school director or we're talking about somebody in charge of the nurseries or somebody in charge of master clubs or whatever area of service it might be, you could kind of put it together and somebody that has the spirit of diatrophies is not going to want to communicate with the leader. They're not gonna want to subject themselves, submit themselves. He shunned the pastor. And he shared his prattle. You say, prattle, hey, it's right in the text. I didn't make the word up. It's a little less common word there, but in verse number 10, he says, prattling against us with malicious words. Prattle literally means babbling. It, not even in the 1828, you just look online in Webster's under prattling, and about the fourth thing it says is gossip. So the spirit of diatropies is a spirit of gossip. It's a spirit of prattling. It's a spirit of babbling, of continually talking and trying to rattle on about the bone that you have to pick. with somebody, whoever the leader is and whatever bone, whatever thing it is that has you bent out of shape, that is prattling. You see, he built himself up and he, at the expense of others, belittled others. Maybe he had a strong personality and, beloved, a strong personality is good if it's directed in the right direction, if it's accomplishing a good thing. in developing and training and raising my kids. Sometimes they're at a point in their life and I've said, listen, you have the potential to be a great leader. The concern is where are you gonna be leading? Look at the influence you've had on your younger siblings. Look at the influence you've had on some of the younger kids in the church. Look at where you're taking them. It's great to lead, but are you leading the right direction? You'll see that a bitter person always creates division. The Bible, there's so many passages on this, let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you. Ephesians 4.31, 1 Peter 2.1, wherefore laying aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisy and in beings and all evil speakings, all of this be put away and done away with. James 4.11, speak not evil one of another brother. He that speaketh evil of his brother and judges his brother speaketh evil of the law and judges the law. Why would we do that? Matthew 12.36 says, but I say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give an account thereof in the day of judgment. We're gonna give an account one day. That's why we gotta be careful what prattling we have, what gossip we're a part of, what babblings we carry on. And we see, fourthly, that he cast out some parishioners. It's kind of amazing that he had the ability to do that in the church, but he cast out some parishioners. I don't know what influence he had there, but he says, in verse number 10 there, in the concluding words of it, neither doth himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church. How he does this, I'm not sure, but anybody that didn't want to fit into his, agree with him or whatever, he was going to say, okay, we're not going to have anything to do with you. That's the spirit of this man, and we don't want to be a diatrophies. Could I encourage you tonight? Don't let Satan make you a diatrophies. Isaiah 5, 21 says, Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes. and prudent in their own sight. You know, we all feel like we're doing pretty good in our own eyes. I've often said, you want to find out if you're a good husband, you need to ask your wife. Because in my eyes, I'm an amazing husband. I mean, my wife is so lucky to have me. She is blessed beyond measure. Amen? But the real tell is going to be what my wife says about it. And you've got to give her room to get honest with you and say, hey, I need to know where I can improve. Oh, you're perfect the way you are. Hallelujah. What I'm saying is in our own eyes, we all feel pretty good. We all feel like we're doing good. But maybe we should ask somebody else how we're doing. You see, Diotrephes was unable to see the damage that he was causing. His thoughts were more important than the cause of Christ. You'll see this in a church when somebody is willing to destroy a church's testimony in the community. They're willing to destroy the spirit that's in a church. They're willing to destroy the young saints that can't handle the kind of turmoil that's gonna be raised and caused by the division. But diatrophies, that spirit doesn't care. Because what they want to achieve is more important. And we've got to guard against it. You guys doing all right tonight? To my knowledge, we don't have a diatrophies. I'm not getting on anybody. It feels heavy in here, but it shouldn't. There's something we need to guard against, something we should watch for, something we should pray that God protects the church from. Because Satan would love to bring it in and cause a problem. And he would use any one of us that didn't guard our heart, any one of us, including the one up front, to create problems. And we've got to guard against it. So we see here in verse number 11 an exhortation to replicate light. In verse number 11 he says, beloved, follow not that which is evil, but which is good. He that doeth good is of God, and he that doeth evil hath not seen God. Now sometimes, you know, you can tell if something's right or wrong, not by what somebody's saying, but by the results it's producing. Is it doing good, or is it doing evil? So we gotta be careful. He makes it very clear to his readers here. He says, hey, don't follow Diotrephes. I don't care how strong of a leader he is. I don't care how wonderful his personality is. I don't care how gifted he's been. Diotrephes is creating a problem in the church. He's bringing division. And we are not, beloved, to follow darkness. That but that which is light. For what fellowship hath light with darkness? None. We are supposed to follow the light. Romans 12, nine says, let love be without dissimilation, abhor that which is evil and cleave to that which is good. That's who we're supposed to follow after. That's who we're supposed to be seeking. Praise God for the spiritual Christians who will stand in the way of a diatrophies. We are to be following peace, pursuing peace. Are the words that you're hearing peaceful words? Are they words of unity? We follow peace, Hebrews 12, 14 and 15. Follow peace with all men and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. And what does he say in our text here? He that doeth good is of God, but he that doeth evil hath not seen God. So you want to see God? He says in Hebrews 12, 14, follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. We are to be a people that pursue peace. Then I want you to see, lastly, an evaluated report. He gives us a report. He lists for us the qualities of this man named Demetrius. He hath a good report of all men and of the truth itself. Yea, and we also bear record and know that our record is true. He gives us a pattern of dealing with things here. I actually never saw this before until I studied for this lesson tonight. And it's something that I heard and it might have been from Dale Carnegie. It might have been how to influence and influence people. I don't remember where it was, but I'm sure you guys have heard the method of dealing with people. You start with something positive. and then you deal with the problem, and then you get back to something positive. So you open on the positive and close on the positive and deal with the negative in the middle. And we see that John did that right here. He begins, he says, hey, say hi to Gaius. Boy, Gaius is a great guy in the church doing wonderful things, man. Look at how God's blessing him. And boy, the church is blessed by having him. Oh, by the way, diatrophies. Yeah, that guy's a rascal. You're gonna watch out for that guy. Be careful because he's causing a problem. Oh, but you know what? You got Demetrius here, this guy, he's a good guy. Boy, you want to look at how good of a testimony he has. So he gives us that example and shows us how to do that right out of the Bible. Many things that we do in life, or we don't even realize it, how much they come from the scriptures. This man we see here was loved of God. He was loved of people. He might have been an evangelist of sort. We don't know exactly what his involvement in the church there was. He might've been somebody that traveled to the church and was basically, John was saying, hey, listen, I know diatrophies has stood against him. I know diatrophies has said, don't bring that guy in, but I want you to know that he's a good guy. I want you to know that he's worth hearing. I want you to know that he's got a testimony that is good before all the people. Nobody has anything bad to say about him. And I, you guys know, I'm gonna tell you the truth. He says, I'm gonna say he's worth hearing. And sometimes I know when I bring in somebody even like this last Sunday, you know, you guys don't know the speaker from Adam, you know? And just cause I've known brother Dave Smith for 30 years, you know, you guys don't know him. And so you probably could just pretty much take my word for it that I say, hey, this guy's a guy, he's a man of God. He walks with God, loves people, wants to be used to the Lord. You know, you guys are hearing that commendation You know, from what I know about Dave Smith, he's a godly man, not a perfect man, but a godly man that wants to honor God and please God. And so you see John kind of giving this report here of Demetrius. We see the consistency of his record. All men had a good report. Not just the men in the church, but the men that he worked with. You know, have you ever Somebody comes to you and tells you about somebody else that you know from church, and they'll say, oh yeah, I saw them at this place, or they'll say, I heard them say this, and in your mind you're like, no way. He would never talk like that. He would never say those things. Because what you've known of him is just inside this building, is just here around the church, There is not a consistency of life that goes into the other areas. In your mind, you think, no way. He would never act like that. Surely not. Beloved, if we want to have a good report with all men, we've got to have a consistency in our life. A consistency. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Consistency. Consistency in your walk and in your life. In Acts chapter 6, verse number 3, he says, wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of an honest report. That's what they were looking for in the church, some men who had some consistency, some men who could be trusted. They were full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom. These men could be appointed to the position of service of a deacon in the church there, in the early church. But it's because they had a consistency in their lives, not just at church, but at work and at home. Boy, our family sees us. all the time, sees us who we really are. Amen. It's one of the reasons I have the interns at our house so much when they're here. I've got 10 weeks to impact their life. And I want them to see us early in the morning and late at night. I want them to see us on a good day and a bad day. I want them to see us when I'm happy and when I'm not so happy. Because I'm just trying to show them, listen, here's a family that isn't perfect, doesn't claim to be perfect, but we love God and we love each other. And we're trying our best to just do right. And I want them to be around us enough that they see the good, the bad, and the ugly. And they see that we're not perfect. but that we love God and we wanna do right. We wanna please the Lord. And sometimes we have to apologize to one another. Sometimes we have to confess something and get it right with God because we're not perfect and we do things that we shouldn't do, but we want to be what God wants us to be. And man, I wonder, is the testimony that our family, our family members would come and say, oh, he's a godly man. He walks with God. She loves God. She reads her Bible. Or would it be, I've never seen her pick up her Bible. I've never seen her spend time in prayer outside of Thursday night, these couple minutes right here. I just wonder, is there a consistency in your testimony? If we wanna have a good report, beloved, we need to have a consistency in our testimony. And we see, secondly, that he was commended of the truth. What a high praise. What a high praise, to be commended of the truth. Whatever he did, he was careful with the truth. There's something truly, when a man believes the truth and lives the truth, And then even one step further, we could say presents the truth. When we take what we've learned and we let it change our lives, and then we take what we've learned and share it with somebody else, and hopefully God and the power of his word will change their life. That's what a Christian is supposed to be. He was commended of the truth. The truth was of utmost importance to him. And if you took the truth and looked at it against his life, you would say, there's a man that's walking in truth. I think about Daniel. You remember Daniel? The Bible says that even his enemies could not find fault with him. That's pretty good. Because I can tell you, I've got some enemies that would be easy to find fault with me. but they couldn't find fault with him. What does the Bible say about God being able to make even your enemies be at peace with you? God can do that, but we've got to have a consistency of life and we have to live by the truth. Then he gives some concluding thoughts, and I will close with this as well. He says in verse 13 and 14, I had many things to write, But I would not with ink and pen write unto thee. He says, I got a lot more I want to say, but I'm going to shut up. That's what he said. He said, I'm going to close. He said, but I trust I shall shortly see thee, and we shall speak face to face. Peace be unto thee. Our friends salute thee. He says, hey, everybody that knows thee over here, they're saying hi. And then he tells Gaius, this letter, of course, was addressed to Gaius in the beginning, we saw that, but he says, hey, by the way, greet my friends by name. Basically, you know who I know. Tell them I said hi. I will often, when I'm talking to a missionary, they will have made a special connection in the church here. You know, they went out to dinner with somebody, or they went over to somebody's house, and often when I'm talking to them, they'll say, hey, how is that brother or sister doing? And then I'll say, oh, they're doing good, they're faithfully here, they're serving in this, they're doing, he's like, oh, great. Hey, tell them I said hi. Because it's somebody they know here. And that's what he was saying here as he closed. He says, just let those folks that I know, let them know I'm coming and say hi to them. This has been a fun study. I don't know tonight what aspect of the message might have stirred or spoken to your heart. But listen, at the very least, we ought to just pray and ask God to guard Hunt Valley Baptist Church, to guard our hearts, to keep that spirit of diatrophies from coming in. And maybe give us the spirit of Gaius. Maybe give us the spirit of Demetrius. We could have a good report. We could be faithful. And God will bless. God will bless. Let's stand to our feet with our heads bowed and eyes closed. I'm going to have the pianist come and play Excuse me. If God spoke to your heart and you would like to, you can come and use the altar tonight. Alright, thank you so much. You can be seated. You can grab your prayer sheets. And we will.