I rejoice greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father. And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another." And this is love. that we walk after his commandment. This is the commandment that, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it. Let's go ahead and pray together. Our Father, we come before you today, and we ask for your blessing upon these moments we have as we look at these two books here, 2 John, as well as 3 John. and guide us, help us have understanding, but more importantly, may we apply something to our lives that we can use for our daily walk. We ask this in Jesus' name, amen. Now, when you look at the books of the Bible and those who wrote the books, humanly speaking, John wrote the second most books behind the apostle Paul. It's estimated that the apostle Paul wrote probably 13 books, if you include the book of Hebrews. And John, the Apostle John, who traveled with Jesus for those three years, wrote five books. The Gospel of John was written by the Apostle. Then we have three epistles. We've already covered 1 John. Here tonight we'll look a little bit at 2 John as well as 3 John. And and then the book of revelations so that gives us five books Tonight we're going to cover both of these epistles second and third john They are one chapter each and I felt that we could go ahead and do these together Now one of these books second john is written to a lady unnamed and the other third john is written to a man by the name of gaius Second John happens to be the only New Testament epistle that is actually addressed to a lady. So ladies, give yourself a pat on the back right now that a book is addressed to you, all right? Some have tried to draw the analogy as this lady kind of spiritualizes. They've referenced that this lady is a reference to a particular church or the church as a whole. But I personally believe that John in 2 John is writing to a very specific woman whom he knew in his travels. I believe this to be somebody he knew very well because really when you look at verse 1, and verse 10 and verse 12, it seems to me and it seems to indicate there is some person in particular that he had personal knowledge of, personal acquaintance with. And more so than just the summary of a whole church. Now truthfully, the reason I put these books together is because they were one chapter each. But I really believe that these books can be dovetailed together because both of them have everything to do with hospitality. Hospitality. Now one book, actually, tells us how to have a closed-door policy. One book tells us how to have an open-door policy. 2 John is basically the closed-door policy. It's making sure that you are not opening your door to those who are false teachers. Don't have hospitality to false teachers. But in 3 John, it is making sure that those who are true ministers of God, that you're opening your door and being hospitable to them. So let's go ahead and look at these. We'll use the same outline we have used all the way through. So let's first of all talk about the attributes of both 2 and 3 John. The author. Well, no mention of the apostle John is given in either one of the epistles. In fact, John does not say, this is me that wrote the epistle. He gives some indications through it, but just like 1 John that we looked at already, we see him known as the beloved apostle. in the Gospel of John. He's the one whom Jesus loved. He doesn't identify himself, but through those terminologies, I believe that it is really the same writer, the Apostle John, as of 1 John, as well as the Gospel of John. There is no compelling evidence to doubt that John is the author. Because when you look at the style of 2 John and 3 John, when you look at the vocabulary that is used, it's very similar to his other epistle and to the gospel. And the other reason I believe it's John is because most, not all, there are some early church fathers, but most of the church fathers accepted the fact that these two epistles were written by John. Now let me give the outline to you. Let me talk first of all, 2 John. I want you to notice here, and let me just look at these. I'm going to give these to you quickly. Some of the last books I've gone through, I've taken more time to walk through the outline, but I'm not going to do that here tonight. I want you to notice, 2 John, there are two major points. First of all, verses 1-7, the walk of the Christian. Or actually, I'm sorry, verses 1-6, the walk of the Christian. And verses 7-13, the warning to the Christian. So the walk and the warning. Now this epistle of John is very much like some of Paul's epistles. Remember, when we looked at Paul's epistles, what did we find? If we were to give a simple breakdown of Paul's epistles, we would look at the first half of the epistle as practical. The second half is doctrinal. Well, John does that here John tells us about how we ought to walk in truth and walk in love and has everything to do with practical christianity how to live out your christian life, but then the second half of second john has everything to do with a doctrinal aspect In fact, look at verse number eight. Notice here, you can see, even though verse seven talks here about the theology a little bit, verse eight, look to yourselves that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. And through these verses here, he's telling us who we're to look out for, who we're to be careful of. And we'll talk a little bit more about that momentarily. So the walk of the Christian, the warning to the Christian. Now flip over to the next book, 3rd John, and there's a three-point outline. And really, the three-point outline is given based on three individuals named in 3rd John. I want you to notice first of all, verse 1, Gaius, I want you to jump down to verse 9, Diotrephes, and then notice verse number 12, Demetrius. You can easily break down this book of 3 John according to these three characters. And again, this is not an original outline with me. I couldn't do any better than John Phillips. But let me give it to you here on the screen. First of all, verses 1 through 8, the prosperity of Gaius, Verses 9 through 11, the pride of Diotrephes, and verses 12 to 14, the praise of Demetrius. Now, at the conclusion of the sermon, we'll talk more about these three individuals, but the prosperity of Gaius, the pride of Diotrephes, and the praise of Demetrius. Let's do this, I'm gonna give the next major point is an analysis of these two books, and I'm going to give one analysis from each book. So go back to 2 John, and I wanna give this analysis, truth and love. Truth and love. Now if you look through the first handful of verses, you notice these two words mentioned. It talks about walking in truth. It talks about walking in love. Truth and love. Now let me go ahead and jump for just a moment at verse number two, and let's set the stage to talk about this aspect of truth and love. First of all, John says here about how he knows here about this lady who he's writing unto, and he loves her in the truth, But everybody else that knows her loves her as well. And he says in verse 3 or verse 2, this first phrase, for the truth's sake. For the truth's sake. Now, we live in a day-to-day, whether you look at our political system, whether you look at businesses around us, whether you look at people who we have come into contact with, it is sad that we have so many people that are deceptive and liars. Man, I hate to say it. It just, there are people that just will lie to your face, that won't tell you the truth. And my friend, when it comes to Christianity, when it comes to the local church, we need people who not only know the truth, but stand for the truth. You see, it is truth that makes this church a reality. We are here together not necessarily because we have been attracted to one another, though some of you have come because somebody invited you to come, but you know what's caused us really to stick? It's the truth of God's word. Now, some of you are like, yeah, I can do without that person, that person I probably wouldn't go to lunch with, and that, you know, and look, I mean, that happens in a church, even of our size. But really what rallies us together, what brings us together is the truth of God's word. And I want to say to you that there are cardinal doctrines that you must know and you must stand for. In other words, I'm talking about the truth of the Bible, that the Bible is God's inspired book. You know, we've got churches even around this general area that don't believe this book is sufficient for all of our needs. My friend, I don't know where they got their theology, I don't know where they studied, but I learned a long time ago, before I ever went to college, before I ever went to seminary, that this book is God's word and it is sufficient for every need of mankind. So I rally around this book. This book is the banner that we hold up. This book is what we come back to. In fact, as Baptist believers, we state that the Bible is our sole rule of faith and practice. So that's what we come back to. I also come back to the fact that Jesus Christ, as is mentioned in 2 John, is someone who came in the flesh, is someone who died for our sins, and is the only way of salvation. Now jump around to some churches here. There'll be some churches you'll find in our general area who will say, yeah, we're sinners, yes, Jesus died, yes, you gotta place your faith in Jesus, but they'll begin adding things to it. I remember a few years ago, I remember standing right in this aisle, right by my wife, and we had a couple come, and I won't say what denominational church they went to, but they had to visit this particular denominational church because they were staying with their parents. But they came, and they had just found out I was a pastor, but they said, well, we want to come to a real church. And that was their words. And they began to show me the paperwork that they had gotten that morning, and how that said that basically I'm summarizing, in order for you to be saved, you had to be baptized. Now, my friend, I want to tell you something. That is a work of the flesh. You may say all the right things, but as Paul made mention of, if you add to salvation, you've made it null and void. It's not salvation. Because salvation is by faith alone. It's through grace, faith, Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, but it is not of works. And so why don't we rally around together tonight? Why am I not a part of certain churches? Because there are churches that are teaching different things about salvation. Now, I could go through some of our major doctrines, what we believe about the church, what we believe about the Holy Spirit. You say, Pastor, are there a lot of things that we believe? You better start studying. You better start getting in the Word of God and getting fixed on what you should know and what you believe in and what rallies us together. We're not rallied together over personality. We're not rallied together over persons in this church. We are rallied together around the truth of the Bible. And so here it is, for the truth's sake, and I love this, he says, which dwelleth in us. Now I've got a question for you. Is he referencing the Holy Spirit? Because does not the Bible say in John chapter 14 that it references the spirit of truth? Is he talking about Jesus Christ who has made unto us righteousness and the Bible says that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth? Is he talking about the Bible where the Bible says of itself in John 17, 17, sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth. I believe there's a reference to all of it. When you hide God's Word in your heart, what are you putting in your heart? The truth of God. The fact that you're saved today, who do you have dwelling inside of you? The Holy Spirit of truth. And I'm here to tell you that when you get alone with God and sit and sift through the truth of the Word of God and the person of truth resides in you, there is a great communication that goes on. And God is the best teacher you'll ever have. Bar none. He'll help you know the truth. And in this truth, where to walk, he says. He starts talking in 2 John about walking in truth. The idea of walking has to do with our manner of life. You see, it's not just the fact we say we believe certain things, it's the fact that we live truthful lives. And what is one of the truthful things here is the fact that we're commanded to love one another. Now, I like this, what he says here. He says in verse number five, and now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning. Now, what beginning? This is the beginning of when Jesus came and began his earthly ministry. And what was the command that Jesus gave? But that we love one another. Can I say, when you bring this aspect of truth and love, as I've made mention here, both of these are needed today in our lives, and both are needed in our church, and if we're lacking in one, our life or our church will become disproportionate. You cannot have one without the other. Think with me for just a moment. If I was all truth, I've known groups of Christians who have all of their T's crossed and all of their I's dotted properly, and they stand for the fundamentals of the faith, but boy, they are ruthless in how they present their truth. There's no love. Bible tells us that we're to speak the truth in love. Truth is important, yes. But how much better is it received when it's received with love? But on the flip side, a person who is all lovey-dovey and just, well, we just accept anybody. Look, that's a sweet-hearted person. I mean, they baked me an apple pie. They told me that Jesus didn't come into flesh, but boy, they bake a good apple pie. I've accepted them in and I've welcomed them. My friend, I've got to tell you, you have to have love with truth. Truth and love coming together. Love cannot be put above truth, otherwise truth becomes watered down. And true Christian love is evidenced when we obey God. So I'd encourage you, study out these two truths, truth and love. Very, very important things. Now, flip over to 3 John, and I wanna talk about this subject, analyzing 3 John, and this word, the word hospitality. I want you to notice verse number 5 of 3 John. John's writing to Gaius here, and he says, Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren and to strangers. Now, Gaius was a man who I believe, according to reading this passage of Scripture, who extended his home to preachers and to strangers alike. Now, isn't that interesting that through the Bible, especially the New Testament, we see this principle of entertaining guests? In fact, in Matthew chapter 25, verse 40, when you entertain guests, it's just like entertaining the Lord. Listen to this. The king shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." Remember this whole scenario here where Jesus said, you've given a cup of cold water, you've done this, and then basically the question is asked, well, when have we done this? And Jesus said, when you've done it unto the least of these my brethren, it's like you've done it unto me. I'm also reminded of the passage in Hebrews 13.2, sometimes a very interesting passage, but let me read this verse to you. Hebrews 13.2, be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Now, that's an interesting verse. I think first of all, entertaining people. Let me just talk for the principle of entertaining people. You and I must get our mindset of first century travel. There was no Holiday Inn, or Hilton, or Marriott. Basically, if people were going to travel, and there might be places to stay, but the expense may be too much for the average person to stay, or those places were unsanitary. And therefore, when many people would travel, they would stay in the home of a friend. or they would just walk along and they might knock on somebody's door and ask if they could possibly come in. It kind of explains that little parable about the man. Remember the parable as Jesus was speaking about prayer and the man went to his friend and said, friend, he's knocked on the door, do you have three loaves of bread? I've just had somebody come in, it's midnight. Now wait a minute, who, I mean, what guest of yours would knock on your door at midnight? But truthfully, this is what would happen. The traveling would take place and people would welcome them in. And when I read Hebrews 13 verse 2 about entertaining strangers and possibly entertaining angels unawares, to me this is a very stark reminder of the book of Genesis. When Abraham, remember, had these three guests that came by. And who was one of the guests that came by? Jesus. In a pre-incarnate form here, these angels that had come by, Abraham went through and fixed a meal for them, had them lodge with him, and felt a great obligation to take care of these people. But here's the truth of Hebrews 13 too as we talk about the subject of hospitality. You and I ought to consider opening our homes to needy guests. That way we don't risk offending God by treating his messengers inhospitably. It's very important that you and I consider that when there is a need that we help out, it might be, it could be a monetary need, it could be a food need, it could be helping to lodge, it could be doing any number of things, that we are sensitive to God as he brings people by because we don't know, not necessarily that you're gonna entertain an angel, But what is an angel? What does the word angel mean? A messenger. It could very well be that this is God's messenger bringing right by you to help out. And we're going to talk more about hospitality in a moment, but let me talk here about the announcement of Christ in 2 and 3 John. Where do we see Christ in these books? Well, first of all, 2 John, verse number 7. For many deceivers are in it of the world, who confess not. The word confess, agree, to side with. They do not agree that Jesus Christ is coming to flesh. Who is this person? How does God describe it? This is a deceiver and an antichrist. And you remember in the book of Revelation here, We've discussed the Antichrist, the one man who will stand in the stead of Jesus Christ and will be against him as well. He really is the culmination of all the people in the Christian era who have Refuse to believe that Jesus Christ is coming to flesh all of those people Who believe that Jesus did not come into flesh? are considered Antichrist and Here the Bible talks about that Jesus Christ These people didn't believe this about Jesus. So therefore what is the flip side that I ought to believe Jesus did come into flesh Can I say to you if Jesus did not come? We don't have salvation. It was necessary that Jesus come. It was necessary that He was born of the Virgin Mary. That the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary. That Jesus, when He was born, it was not of the seed of the earthly Father Joseph. But when Jesus was born, He was born of the Virgin Mary. She did not know Joseph physically. And therefore, Jesus was born the sinless Son of God. and bypassing the whole sin curse. Powerful, powerful. So notice now in 3 John, again this is worth your study. I want you to notice in verse 7, because that for his namesake they went forth. Now these are the messengers that Gaius was taking in and helping And whose name did these messengers go in? It was Jesus' name. It wasn't John's name. It was Jesus' name. And I'll tell you, it would be worth your study to go through the book of Acts alone. And just note everywhere about the name of Jesus. How the apostles were told not to preach in his name. How in Acts chapter four, verse 12, there is salvation under none other name than the name of Jesus. Powerful study. I think you'd be, it'd be worth noting that. But anyways, these two areas, we can see the announcement of Christ. But now lastly, I'm gonna give the application and I'll be done. First of all, I wanna talk to you about the practical application of hospitality. the practical application of hospitality. God's servants who travel about as missionaries or God's servants who are evangelists ought to be cared for. Now look at this in 3 John, verse 5. Beloved, now John's writing to Gaius here, and he's telling him, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren, that is, those that were in the church, those that knew Christ, and even the strangers, people you don't even know. So basically, words coming back here. In fact, verse six, which have borne witness of thy charity before the church, that is, John's saying, I've met some ministers. And there's been other people who have been helped by you, and they're saying to me, do you know Gaius at this such and such church? Man, if you ever get down there, see that man, because he'll help you. Go talk to him because he'll care for you and help you out. That witness, that testimony has been borne out to me, John says. And then he says in verse six, whom if thou bring forward on their journey after a godly sort, thou shalt do well. Because that for his namesake, that is these messengers, they went forth taking nothing of the Gentiles. They weren't coming just so they could find out what they could get. You know, sadly, there are some people in the ministry who do it for what they can get out of it. God forbid that that happens. That's really a terrible thing. It ought to be that people who are truly called of God and in a ministry, no matter what comes by financially, no matter what benefits may come by, those things are really not even considered. It's what the minister does for the people of God and his service to the Lord. That's important. That is vital. You ought to be sure that every person, in fact, as a pastor, I want to see that with our staff, and I believe we have that with our staff, that these are people that are committed to you first and foremost. I've often said, when it comes to the area of ministry, that you care for people, and you love people, and you serve God with all your heart, and He'll see to it your needs are met. And guess what? I'm fat and happy. My needs have been met. Really, everything God has blessed me beyond measure, but the servants who come through, we ought to care for. Now look at verse number seven or verse eight. We therefore ought to receive such that we might be fellow helpers. Now I like this fellow helpers, this idea of fellow helpers. Do you realize when somebody comes by and we help them, we're taking part of their ministry? When we give towards a missionary, when we help out somebody, we're kind of in on the ministry that God has given them and how powerful. You've noticed when missionaries come by, they'll often say as they put their presentations up there, you have been a part of this. because of your giving, because of what you have done for missions, and what you have given to us, that is a particular missionary speaking, we have been able to see this church planted, these people saved, and praise God, I stand back and think to myself, I didn't even step one foot on the field, but yet I had a part in the ministry. Isn't that beautiful? It's wonderful. Now, I'm not going to take the time, but you might want to jot down a couple of passages to reference in this area of taking care of God's servants. 1 Corinthians 9, verses 11-14. 1 Corinthians 16, verse 17. The idea here in these passages is that we're here to care for these messengers, these ministers. And again, they don't do it for the sake of all these benefits. But boy, what a blessing it is as people gather together and give and are generous, it helps them. Now, I must say about hospitality, one of the qualifications of a pastor is to be hospitable. It really is. You look at 1 Timothy 3. A pastor is to be given to hospitality. Now, I get the fact that there are limits. But I think that when a man marries a wife, that there ought to be some consideration together on how they do things, when they do things, but they ought to be open to be able to help people and to give service unto others. As a church, as an individual, how can you and I practice hospitality? Well, let's talk about our missionaries for just a moment. Let me ask you a question, when a missionary comes and if we have an offering towards a missionary, do you give? Now don't answer, but just answer to yourself. Do you give? You say, oh, you know, the church is gonna take care of them, or I've heard people say this, I'm not gonna give, because I don't want them to have too much. Where did that come from? You apparently haven't been involved in ministry and realize that ministry costs a lot of money. And these missionaries, when it comes to the flight, when it comes to the establishment on the field, when it comes to going to language school, when it comes to food, and sometimes we think things are expensive here, imagine some of the prices over on some of these foreign fields. And I want to tell you something, every time that we give to a missionary and we bless them, It is going first and foremost into God's hands. Secondly, to theirs. You say, well, pastor, what if they end up leaving the field? What if they're immoral and something happens? That's why I say we give it to God first. Because I've had people quit the ministry, and we've given, we've helped. And people come in and say, oh, pastor, I'm so discouraged. We did all this for that person, and now they're out of the ministry. Wait a minute. Who did you give to? If it was to them, so you could get a little pat on the back from them, then I guess you lose out. But if you give to God, you'll never lose. And you know what, what a blessing that is. And so given these missionaries, I must say that most recently at our missions conference, how many of you remember when the hunters were here? Herb and his wife and their teenage son, 16 years old. Now we did something, I'll never forget, in fact, Brother Michael Kelly, I remember Michael Kelly has talked to me about this on numerous occasions. He'll come up and he'll say, Pastor, there's a child of the missionary family, he said, are we gonna give a little offering? Michael, I'll do that. And I hadn't really been part of churches that had done that, but I remember the first time I did it and I saw how it blessed the parents and how it blessed the kids. But you know, this young man, Noah, Hunter, I'm telling you, this did something for him that is powerful. It's amazing. I have talked to Herb on a couple of occasions, and Herb has actually shared with me about how that has gotten a hold of his heart. In fact, if I'm safe to say, I'm not always good with numbers, but I wanna say that in the offering we took, we gave to Noah close to $2,000. A teenage son. He's probably never seen that much money in his life before. But you know what he did with that? God spoke to his heart, and there was a young man studying for the ministry, I believe, if I have the story right, back in Africa where they minister, and he sent some of that money back to Africa to help that young man. Wow. You can't, I tell you, it's just beautiful when you give to the Lord. And when you give to help these people like this, how powerful. I think it's important that we ought to love on these missionaries with letters. Now again, don't raise your hand because I don't want to embarrass you, but how many of you here tonight, just in your heart, raise your hand, okay. You have a missionary that you've adopted. Now here's the bigger question. How many have adopted a missionary and have not even talked to them? They're like an orphan to you. And truthfully, that's some of that. But you know, when I talk to these missionaries and they hear from you, it's a blessing. Imagine taking yourself, leaving your family, leaving the country you know, going to a complete strange place and think about how welcoming it would be to get an email. a letter, maybe a phone call, and to hear from one of your supporting church's members. That's the idea of hospitality and helping these people out. It might be when we talk not only about missionaries, but hospitality when it comes to members, helping with needs. Now, I don't know what's going to be happening in these next few months. I don't know, I don't have a crystal ball, in fact, I don't even believe in those, but if I were to just be able to say, okay, in a year, here's what things are gonna look like economically, I can't even predict it. But it could very well be that there will be people in our church who will go through some dire straits. Let me just say to you, we have widows in this group, we have a lot of widows. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to care for the widows. That's our job. It's our job. And it's important that we make sure that they have things taken care of, that we, if we need to give to them, if we need to go by and help them with some work, if we need to give them some advice, whatever it may be, other members taking time to listen to people. and observing and spending time with them. And then it might be that there's strangers that come by that we might be able to help out from time to time. But the practical application of hospitality is something you need to pray about and ask God to help you. And now I give you this last one. Go to 3 John if you would. And I want to ask this question, which man best describes you? Gaius, Diotrephes, or Demetrius? Now if you read 3rd John, what do you see about Gaius? Well, you see about his kindness. Four times John refers to him as beloved. Verse 1, verse 2, verse 5, and verse 11. Beloved. Here's a man that it seems indicate his physical health wasn't that good. And John said, I really pray that your physical health will be as good as your spiritual health. Here's a man that probably was very spiritually healthy. And how much we need that in our churches. But Diotreves is the man that you don't wanna be like. Let me describe this man for just a moment. He struts around like he's the most important person in the church. He wants to be noticed by everybody. He has the idea that he's gonna go ahead and keep the leadership, the pastor maybe even, under his thumb so he can attempt to take charge. He thinks way more of his opinion and he really doesn't need anybody else to tell him what to do. So a question for you is, do you recognize this type of man? I hope that person's not here. But this person could be in the church now. But I do know this, he's been in many churches across America and around the world. His name may not literally be Diotrephes, but he's like Diotrephes. These are the type of people who put up a pious front but they do all they can to try to run the church. You know, I think most of us, you know, I'm scared of people sometimes who always wanna be in the limelight. I'll be honest with you, I wish, I love to sit down and be able to hear preaching. I enjoyed a couple weeks ago when I got to hear Johnny preach. And recently when I've heard some of the guys preaching, and when we have evangelists come in, it's a joy. And you don't understand my spirit or my personality well enough, I don't covet this. And it scares me when there's a man who says, oh, I want to do this, and I want to be up front, and I want to take charge. My friend, the Bible talks about studying to be quiet. Probably a lot more of us ought to learn how to be quiet and listen. And then when God brings the opportunity to teach or to preach or to do whatever in front, then we can do those things. But boy, you look through this epistle, and I won't take time, John states five things that's wrong with this man in verses nine through 10. pretty amazing, but it all summarized in verse number nine, Diotreves, who loveth to have the preeminence. But the last man, Demetrius. Now, if I could be like any man, I'd like to either be like Gaius, the beloved, the kind man, or I'd like to be like Demetrius, where it was well reported of him, of his life. That is, he had a testimony. Now, what was his testimony? We don't know. What was reported of him? What was accounted by other people of him? It's not said. All it says here is in verse number 12, Demetrius, have good report of all men and of the truth itself. Boy, that'd be good to stick right on your tombstone, wouldn't it? Yeah. How powerful. What type of person are you in this church? I want to encourage you tonight to be the type of person that there's a good report of and that is kind and hospitable to every guest and every person that comes through this place. May it be that this church would be known as a giving church, a loving church, a kind church, a hospitable church. And that begins with you.