Latest / THE BELIEVER'S CHURCH | Let’s Build Our Faith Together / Friends and Foes in the Church, Part 2 (3 John 9–14) John MacArthur

Transcript

Friends and Foes in the Church, Part 2 (3 John 9–14) John MacArthur · THE BELIEVER'S CHURCH | Let’s Build Our Faith Together

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Let's open our Bibles tonight. We have a little time
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: before we're going to go outside. And I do want
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: to finish up our study of 3 John. I've been
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: asked several times, since this is a special night, are
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: you going to do something special? And I said, sure,
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: I'm going to do the rest of 3 John. How
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: special can you get? I mean that's where we are
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: and I'd like to finish this little epistle. It has
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: been a really wonderful blessing. for me personally to go
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: back through 1, 2 and 3 John and I think
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: you'll find this a really compelling study. 3 John and
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: we're going to be looking at the final half of
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: this book, verses 9 through 14. Let me read it
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: to you. I wrote something to the church, but Diotrephes
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: who loves to be first among them does not accept
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: what we say. For this reason, if I come, I
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: will call attention to his deeds which he does. unjustly
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: accusing us with wicked words and not satisfied with this,
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: neither does He Himself receive the brethren. And He forbids
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: those who desire to do so and puts them out
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: of the church. Beloved, do not imitate what is evil,
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: but what is good. The one who does good is
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: of God, the one who does evil has not seen God.
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: Demetrius has received a good testimony from everyone and from
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: the truth itself and we also bear witness and you
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: know that our witness is true. I had many things
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: to write to you but I'm not willing to write
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: them to you with pen and ink. But I hope
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: to see you shortly and we shall speak face to face.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: Peace be to you. The friends greet you. Greet the
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: friends by name. Now the main character in this section
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: of this little epistle. is a man named Diotrephes followed
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: at the end by another man named Demetrius. But for
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: the most part, Diotrephes occupies our attention and you might
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: even title this section, The Man Who Loved the Preeminence.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: There have always been such people who love the preeminence,
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: who are proud and selfish and self-centered, who seek the
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: places of power and the places of fame and the
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: places of prestige. In fact, the Scriptures literally abound with
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: such characters in this category and I thought it might
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: be instructive for us to just go back and meet
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: some of this hall of infamy, people who would never
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: show up in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, that's for sure.
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: These are the anti-heroes. Genesis chapter 4 introduces us to
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: such a man by the name of Lamech in Genesis
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: chapter We meet him in verse 23 in regard to
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: this particular perspective. And Lamech said to his wives, Ada
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: and Zillah... he had already broken God's commandment by being a polygamist... but
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: he said to his wives, Ada and Zillah, listen to
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: my voice, you wives of Lamech, give heed to my speech.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: For I have killed a man for wounding me and
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: a boy for striking me, if Cain is avenged sevenfold
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: Then Lamech seventy-sevenfold. This is the first bully in the Bible.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: Lamech composed his own song here. It is Hebrew poetry.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: I have slain a young man who merely wounded me,
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: a young man who merely hurt me. God may take
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: care of Cain sevenfold, but I'll take care of myself seventy-sevenfold.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: Here is an illustration of blasphemous arrogance. The first murderer, Cain,
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: had produced a grandson who was also a murderer. The
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: first murder was the result of envy. This one was
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: the result of pride. And what you have there is
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: a picture of Lamech strutting before his two wives and
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: pontificating about his bloody deed. And how able he is
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: to defend himself even to the 77th limit. Interestingly enough,
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: Lamech was the seventh in the line from Adam. And
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: God calls Lamech's cousin, Enoch, the seventh. In the book
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: of Jude, verse 14, it says,' Enoch in the seventh
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: generation from Adam prophesied saying,' Behold, the Lord came with
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: many thousands of His holy ones to execute judgment upon
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: all and to convict all the ungodly of their ungodly
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: deeds which they've done in an ungodly way and of
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.' Well,
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: we must conclude then that Lamech was an object of
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: Enoch's testimony since Enoch lived in the same generation. Lamech
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: was one of those ungodly people who did ungodly deeds
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: in an ungodly way and spoke harsh things against God.
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: Lamech was a hard sinner and he flaunted his sin.
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: against God. He viewed himself as above God. Another such
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: proud man we find in Genesis chapter 10. This man's
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: name is Nimrod and it says in verse 9, he
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: was a mighty hunter before the Lord, therefore it is said,
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord. And the
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: beginning of his kingdom was Babel and Erek and Akkad.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: and Kelna in the land of Shinar. Now when you
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: read verse 9, he was a mighty hunter before the Lord,
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: that's a rather weak translation, it doesn't seem to carry
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: what the Hebrew carries. His story is really the story,
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: a horrible story of desperate rebellion against God by one
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: who wanted to be preeminent. Cush begat Nimrod, the Hebrew says,
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: and he began to be a tyrant in the land.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: He was a terrible subjugator, defiant, says the Hebrew, before
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: the face of Jehovah. Saddam Hussein isn't the first by
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: any means of such Middle Eastern tyrants. And they all
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: have their little day and are brought to an end.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: But Nimrod appears to be the first of such dictators.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: The first one who brought together an organized rebellion against God.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: And Nimrod wanted to be first and it all ended
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: up in Babel and Babylon, the mother of all false religion.
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: It can all be traced back to Nimrod. And you
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: could also go to the book of Judges and the
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: ninth chapter and you would meet another one of these
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: kinds of people by the name of Abimelech, the son
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: of Jerubbaal. named after Baal and went to Shechem. He
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: was the half-breed son of Gideon. And he wanted to
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: be king, did Abimelech. He had these tremendous aspirations to
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: become king and he sought power and prominence and preeminence
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: so that he gathered together all of his brothers to
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: support him in his effort to be king and then
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: killed them all. committing atrocities in order that He might
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: eliminate any other potential claimant to His throne. God dealt
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: with him in a most bizarre way. He did ascend
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: to that power that He wanted. Three years later, however,
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: He was trying to smash down the tower while His
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: army was attacking an enemy at Thebes. And there was
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: a tower at the place. While he was there with
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: his army attacking Thebes, from the top of the tower
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: a woman dropped a millstone and she had tremendous aim.
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: It hit him on his head, split his skull open.
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: He immediately cried for his armor-bearer to run him through
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: with a sword before he died from the crushed skull
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: lest it go down in history. that he was killed
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: by a woman. Thinking only of his pride down to
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: the very end, he sought preeminence. There was in the
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: book of Esther another man like this by the name
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: of Haman. You remember King Ahasuerus ruled all the way
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: from India to Ethiopia and he had raised a man
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: by the name of Haman to very high rank in
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: his kingdom. And Haman became drunk with power and drunk
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: with prestige. He demanded everybody to obey him and bow
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: before him and pay him homage and honor him and
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: there was a Jew who did not by the name
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: of Mordecai, remember? He decided that because of what Mordecai
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: had done, he would literally annihilate the Jews. He would
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: commit genocide. He loved the preeminence to such a degree
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: that he would literally obliterate a whole race of people
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: because of one man who would not bow to him.
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: The story of Esther is a pretty incredible story. He
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: wound up, by the way, being hanged on the gallows
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: he built to hang the Jews on. And as long
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: as we're thinking about these people, we would be remiss
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: if we didn't make a comment or two about one
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: other very famous man who sought the preeminence by the
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: name of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel chapter 4. Nebuchadnezzar sought to
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: exalt himself and because he sought to exalt himself, you
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: remember God turned him into a maniac and left him
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: out grazing like an animal for years, seven years in fact,
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: till he finally came to his senses. model of self-centered, proud, power,
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: mad love for preeminence. And then, of course, if you
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: come to the New Testament, there is Herod. And we
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: find that story in the twelfth chapter of Acts. Herod
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: declared it Herod Day in all modesty. And on appointed day,
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: Acts 12 21, put on his royal apparel, came out
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: before the people took his seat there in Caesarea, sat
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: in his throne and began delivering an address to them.
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: And the people kept saying, the voice of a God
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: and not a man, and that's what he wanted. And
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: didn't give God the glory, he was eaten by worms
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: and died. And so ended Herod's day. Not exactly the
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: way He had planned it. And then you could also
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: throw into the little list that we've been putting together,
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: Matthew 23, because in Matthew 23 you have not one
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: but a whole collection of people who love to have
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: the preeminence. Jesus identified them as whited sepulchers, as tombs
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: full of dead men's bones. Jesus identified them repeatedly as hypocrites.
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: He identified them as snakes and vipers. And who were they?
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: They were the scribes and the Pharisees who seated themselves
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: in the chair of Moses, Matthew 23...they loved to be
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: noticed by men. They broadened their phylacteries, the little leather
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: boxes that held slips on which were written passages of
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: the Mosaic Law. They carried them around. They made theirs very,
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: very big so that people would know how devoted to
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: Scripture they were. They lengthened the tassels of their garments.
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: Tassels were supposed to be evidences of their devotion and
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: they made theirs as long as possible, extending them down
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: so that they were dragging on the ground so people
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: would exalt them for their piety. And then they love
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: the place of honor at the banquets and the chief
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: seats in the synagogue and the respectful greetings in the marketplace.
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: And they love to be called rabbi. They love to
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: be called father, source. They love to be called leader.
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: There always have been these kinds of people, always. And
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: even among the people of God, we've given you an
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: illustration of it, and it's a temptation even for good people.
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: You go to Matthew chapter 20 in your mind and
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: you will remember that James and John had the audacity
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: to get their mother to go to Jesus and plead
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: with Jesus to give them the preeminent place in His
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: kingdom because they thought they were worthy of it. Can
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: you imagine that? Matthew 20, 20 to 28, Jesus said,
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: you know, that's something for the Father to give but
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: it goes to those who have suffered the most, not
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: those who have sought the preeminence. If you want to
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: be first... You should seek to be last. You should
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: be like the Son of Man who didn't come to
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: be served but to serve and give His life a
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: ransom for many. And that ended that conversation. Well all
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: of that leads us to 3 John. Let's go back.
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: And here in 3 John we meet a man who
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: belongs in the Hall of Infamy with all the rest
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: of those people I've just kind of rehearsed for you.
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: This is a man named Diotrephes. And He loved to
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: have the power, the preeminence, the prestige, the prominence, the
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: chief seat, the chief place. It says it in verse 9,
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: Diotrephes who loves to be first, Phileo who has a
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: strong affection, Protuo, to be first... to be first, that term
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: Protuo is used only one other place Colossians 1.18 and
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: there it talks about the preeminence of Christ. So here
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: is a man who's competing with Christ. Here is one
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: who doesn't believe that Jesus alone is first but seeks
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: to supplant Christ and to rule the church in the
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: place of Christ. He's like a New Testament Absalom, so
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: power hungry that he would murder his own father to
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: take the throne. And Diotrephes was a very proud man.
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: He was so proud that in seeking his place of preeminence,
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: he was actually busy supplanting Christ, busy replacing Christ in
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: the church. How did he do it? By rejecting those
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: who were serving Christ. Now if this sounds a little
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: bit familiar, this is an old, old story and a
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: new one as well. We see this all the time
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: with young men that come out of the seminary. They
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: go into a church, they are the servants of Christ,
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: they are prepared, they are heart-ready, they are mind-ready, they
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: are soul-ready, they are ready to labor, to pour their
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: lives into the congregation. They run right into a diatrophies
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: who loves to have the power in the church and
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: before they know what hit them, they're out of the church.
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: Happens all the time. It's a constant battle. So common.
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: Now remember, this is in the middle of a letter
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: about hospitality, right? This letter is basically about how we
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: are to open our hearts to the servants of Christ,
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: how we are to accept them, as verse 7 says,
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: for they went out for the sake of the name
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: They accepted nothing from the Gentiles. Therefore we ought to
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: support such men that we may be fellow workers with
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: the truth, as we pointed out last week. And yet,
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: though it is our obligation as a church to open
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: our arms and embrace the faithful servants of God, here
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: is a man in the church who because he loves
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: to be first, sees everybody as a threat to his power.
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: So in this local assembly... Diotrephes was forbidding anyone to
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: receive the traveling preachers. He saw the traveling preachers as
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: a threat. And there were believers who wanted to open
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: their arms to them. And so John writes to one,
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: beloved Gaius, whom he loves in the truth and wishes
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: him well and tells him about what good reports he
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: hears from the brethren who came to him to tell
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: him of Gaius. And then he reminds him, as I
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: just read in verses 5 to 7, to make sure
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: that he continues to love the truth by loving those
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: who are the messengers of the truth. And then he
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: stops and there's almost a startling change in verse 9
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: and injects this whole section about this man. who contrary
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: to the call for loving hospitality is doing everything he
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: can to prevent the servants of the gospel from having
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: any reception in the church because he sees them as
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: a threat to his power, threat to his preeminence. Is
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: there anything as ugly as spiritual pride? Anything? I don't
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: think so. Now last time in the opening eight verses
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: we saw Gaius, the man who gave hospitality. I want
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: you to look in verses 9 and 10 at Diotrephes,
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: the man who refused to give hospitality. As graciously hospitable
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: as Gaius was, so ungracious and unhospitable was Diotrephes. They
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: are poles apart. They are absolute opposites. Gaius is seen
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: knowing truth, walking in truth, loving the brethren, entertaining strangers
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: who are faithful ministers of the gospel. Diotrephes is seen
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: loving himself, refusing to allow anyone to come in who
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: might somehow receive the accolades, the love, the affection, the
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: response of the congregation which he wants for himself. The
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: conflict is not doctrinal, it's not theological, it's not a
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: spiritual issue, it is a personal issue. of loving oneself.
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: And so does John address this issue so frequently arising
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: in the church. Look at verse 9. I wrote something
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: to the church but Diotrephes who loves to be first
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: among them doesn't accept what we say. John wrote a
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: letter to this church. And Diotrephes had managed to put
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: himself in a position to filter everything and so who
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: loves to be first among them doesn't accept what we say.
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: We do not know about this letter written earlier to
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: this church. It was not written to Diotrephes, it was
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: written to the church. It is lost perhaps because Diotrephes
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: destroyed it, probably never even read it to the church
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: and that's why John tells Gaius who's in that church
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: that he wrote that letter. Diotrephes had managed to move
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: himself into the position of power and became the screener
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: for anything and everything that came to the church and
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: literally rejected a letter from the Apostle John. John says,
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: Diotrephes does not accept what we say. Another way to
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: translate that, we'll have nothing to do with us. He
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: is his own authority. even to the point where he
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: rejects one with apostolic authority. These kind of people who
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: are proud and self-righteous, these kind of people who love
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: spiritual preeminence and seek power and control, they know no
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: bounds on who they will reject. They will reject the
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: most faithful. profound, respected, revered authorities of Scripture. In fact,
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: the more influence a person has because of faithful ministry,
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: the more likely they are to reject that person. Now
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: the man's name, Diotrephes, is interesting. It means reared by Zeus... reared
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: by Zeus. or nursed by Zeus. And it was a name,
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: as far as we could tell, it was found only
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: among nobility in ancient families. So it may have been
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: that he had a self-importance problem because he came from
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: some noble family. Perhaps he was aristocratic in his background
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: and because he had a little bit of an aristocratic background,
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: thought more highly of himself than he ought to think.
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: But that really wasn't his problem. It doesn't really have
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: to do with his background. His problem is clearly identified
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: in verse 9, he loved to be first. That's the issue.
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: There really are no environmental contributions to this issue here.
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: This is not a circumstantial situation. This isn't because of
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: the way he was raised. This is a man who
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: is greedy for power because he loves himself. He's guilty
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: of spiritual pride of the rankest kind and he's worked
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: his way into spiritual leadership in the church. He's not humble.
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: He's not selfless. He's not loving. He's not compassionate. He
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: certainly doesn't have the mind of Christ, let this mind
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, Philippians 2,
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: 3 and following. And you will notice, he loves is
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: in the present tense. This is a pattern for him.
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: This is habitual for him. He is driven by personal ambition.
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: This is so hard to deal with in the church,
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: particularly in small congregations where these people are entrenched, as
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: I've said, we've picked up the pieces of many very
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: heartbroken young men who go out and are chewed up
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: by diatrophies here and there and everywhere. Not only was
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: he perverted by ambition, but it led to perverted action.
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: Verse 10,' I will call attention,' he says,' if I
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: come to his deeds which he does.' It's not just
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: an attitude, you can't contain an attitude anyway, whatever an
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: attitude is becomes an action. John says, for this reason,
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: because of the fact that in his self-love and in
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: his longing to be pre-eminent, he doesn't even accept what
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: I am. An apostle of Jesus Christ, I have to say,
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: because of this, for this reason, if I come, I
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: will call attention to his deeds which he does. I'm
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: going to expose the man if I come. I will
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: not forget, John is saying, I will not forget. I
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: will bring up the subject of diatrophies, conduct, and I
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: will make it an issue in the church because it
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: is an issue for discipline. And the question always arises,
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: and I've had this question with so many young pastors,
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: What do I do? There's a guy in my church
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: who's like Diotrephes, he has the preeminence, what do I do?
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: And I encourage them, I encourage the leaders who are
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: supportive of the pastor, you must take the power away
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: from the man. If you do not take the power
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: away from the man now, then you're going to lose
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: the pastor you have and you're going to lose the
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: next one and the next one and the next one
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: until you finally do what you have to do. Churches
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: seem so reluctant to do that. Why? Because these people
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: are manipulators. They didn't get into power for nothing. They
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: didn't get there by just rolling out of bed. They
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: worked their way into that. And John says, when I
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: get there, I'm not going to overlook this. This man
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: is challenging my authority as an apostle of Jesus Christ.
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: This man is forbidding believers to be hospitable toward faithful preachers.
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: I'll take disciplinary action. All the verbs here are present tense, does, accusing,
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: does not receive, forbids, puts out, all present tense verbs.
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: This is the habitual work of this man who's worked
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: his way into a position of power in the church
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: by deceiving people. basically indicts him on four counts. Look
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: at them in verse 10, four counts. Number one, unjustly
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: accusing us with wicked words. This is characteristic in every
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: occasion of these people who rise to preeminence. They falsely
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: accuse other people. This is how they gain trust. They
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: don't gain trust by the virtue of their life. They
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: don't gain trust by their character. They don't gain trust
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: the long, slow, true way by exposing all that they
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: are to people and letting people make a judgment on
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: their righteousness and on their integrity. They get the trust
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: of the people by destroying the people's trust in everybody else.
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: They are malicious and destructive. Accusing... the word accusing here... is
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: actually a word that occurs only here in the entire
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: New Testament, but a cognate form of it occurs in
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: 1 Timothy 5...13 where it can be translated, tattlers. They
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: are tattlers. They go around telling malicious, gossiping tales. By
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: the way, the root word in the Greek comes from
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: boiling up or bubbling over. And there's a reason for that.
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: Bubbles are hollow. This is hollow talk, foolish talk, but
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: they foment foolish, nothing, bubble talk that bursts when it's poked. False, unfounded, foolish, contrived,
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: manipulated accusations to cause people to distrust those in leadership
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: and then the people are left with them as the
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: only one they can trust. They get good at this,
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: very adept. They bring up malicious charges. They don't make
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: them minimal, superficial. They use evil words. There's a certain
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: viciousness here. By the way, this term wicked words is
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: used of Cain's wickedness in 1 John 3...and it's used
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: of the devil in 1 John 5...they accuse these people
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: that they want to replace these people that they want
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: to rise above of devilish things, horrible things, and including us.
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: Notice it there, unjustly accusing us. You mean to tell
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: me Diotrephes was even falsely accusing the Apostle John? Yes.
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: If anybody was a threat, John was a threat. And
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: if you're a threat, you'll get it. Oh, you may
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: not know it at first. They may give you that. Silky,
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: hypocritical facade, but underneath the surface, they'd like to slit
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: your throat. It's amazing through the years how many times
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: people have treated me on the surface with kindness and respect,
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: and it's come to light behind the scenes, known by me,
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: the maliciousness with which they speak to others about me
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: in an effort to push themselves up as the only
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: ones who are virtuous and prominent. Everybody's a threat... everybody' s a
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: threat to the position of power. And then he adds,
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: as if it's not enough to destroy all those around
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: you with malicious, destructive gossip, it says, and not satisfied
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: with this. It's not enough to do that. Neither does
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: he receive the brethren, whoever is already respected, they seek
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: to destroy. And anybody who comes in, they begin to
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: undermine as well. In fact, they will not even receive them.
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: They will not treat them with humble love. They not
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: only slandered the Apostle John himself, the deatrophies not only
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: slandered John, But he deliberately defied John by refusing to
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: welcome the faithful brethren who came to preach for the
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: sake of the name. Because everybody's a threat. If you're
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: on the inside, you get undermined so they can get
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: into the prominent place. If you're on the outside and
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: you're coming along, they shut you out. And, of course,
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: they don't want anybody too close because somebody might discover
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: what's really going on. And they go a step further
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: than that. Neither does he receive the brethren and he
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: forbids those who desire to do so. If you are
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: going to receive those brethren, he'll forbid you to do that.
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: How in the world does a man like this get
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: into such a power position in a church? That he
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: literally shuts off the Apostle John, that he maliciously destroys
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: the people's confidence in their other spiritual leaders and their
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: true spiritual leaders. that He will not acknowledge true preachers
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: of the gospel and that He forbids people to receive those,
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: how does He get into that position in the church
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: of Jesus Christ? It's amazing how subtle and devious people
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: can be, not only personally rejecting John and the other preachers,
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: but He koulouo, prevents, hinders everybody else, and finally puts
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: them out of the church, ek balo, literally means to
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: toss them out, throw them out. He's protecting His... it' s like
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: King of the Mountain, protecting His power base. Anybody who's
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: a threat, He figures out a way to get them
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: out of the church through the use of malicious gossip,
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: through the destruction of their personality, their character, their integrity.
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: Pretty soon they're gone. You know, this may have been
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: what happened to Gaius. It may have been what happened
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: to Gaius. And that is why John tells Gaius what's
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: going on in the church. Why would John need to
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: tell Gaius about Diotrephes if Gaius was still there? And
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: maybe Gaius had been hammered by this Diotrephes and that's
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: why in verse 8 John says, we ought to support
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: such men that we may be fellow workers with the truth,
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: which is another way of John saying to Gaius, keep
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: it up, Gaius, you've got to keep doing it. I
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: know there may be a price. Theatrophies slandered John, cold-shouldered
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: the preachers of the gospel, excommunicated the loyal and the
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: faithful from the church, all because he loved the preeminence
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: and wanted to stand alone at the top of the heap.
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: And maybe Gaius had fallen victim to that whole thing.
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: Maybe Gaius had just literally been either put out of
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: the church or crushed in his efforts to show hospitality,
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: and that's why John says, you must support such men.
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: But it may be well that he had actually been
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: put out of the church and didn't exactly know what
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: was going on. You know what happens, men are put
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: out of a church, they don't even know that a
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: diatrophies did it to them. Well, all of that simply
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: to say the Bible warns us here about those people
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: who are power hungry in the church. Arrogance is where
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: it all starts. It starts with arrogance. Arrogance produces ambition.
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: Ambition produces accusations and accusation leads to annihilation. You start
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: out driven by pride, your pride produces the desire to
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: be preeminent. Preeminent then leads you to falsely accuse everybody
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: else so you can clear the field of all other
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: claimants and then eventually you have to annihilate and put
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: them out if they don't roll over. So sad when
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: this happens in the church. And many churches aren't willing
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: to deal with it, they aren't willing to face it,
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: they aren't willing to overturn such a man because many
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: of them have been deceived, others in the name of love.
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: church unity, allow this to be perpetuated. And I've learned
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: through the years in dealing with our young men who
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: go out to preach that rarely ever have I heard
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: of a church dismissing a pastor for poor preaching, rarely
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: ever for poor living, almost always power struggles because somebody
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: loves to be first. And that's what splits churches, destroys ministries. Well,
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: more could be said about that. But Diotrephes, for all
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: his efforts to be preeminent, got his name in the book,
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: didn't he? He got his name in the book. But
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: it is a shame that it's here. There is a
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: third character in this book by the name of Demetrius.
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: And if Gaius showed hospitality and needed to continue to
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: do it, no matter what pressure might be coming, and
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: if Diotrephes was the man who refused to give hospitality,
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: Demetrius is one who is to receive hospitality. So here
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: to the beloved Gaius, John introduces a man that he
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: wants Gaius to receive. Beloved, verse 11, do not imitate
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: what is evil but what is good. The one who
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: does good is of God, the one who does evil
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: has not seen God. Demetrius has received a good testimony
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: from everyone and from the truth itself and we also
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: bear witness and you know that our witness is true.
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: He's introducing him to this man Demetrius and then saying,
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: receive him. You need to do that. He said that
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: to faithful men who go out for the sake of
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: the name back in verses 7 and 8. You need
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: to do that to be a fellow worker of the truth.
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: In spite of the fact that there's diatrophies in the church,
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: you need to do that. And here's one in particular
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: that I want you to receive and his name is Demetrius.
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: And if you will receive him, you will not be
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: imitating what is evil but what is good. You will
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: then give evidence that you are of God. Look back
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: at verse 11, we'll pick it up right there. Beloved,
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: do not imitate what is evil. How does that fit in? Well,
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: it simply means don't follow the pattern of Diotrephes. Don't
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: follow the pattern of Diotrephes. He's saying to Gaius, don't
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: be like Diotrephes, he may be the leading influence in
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: your church, don't be like him. Demetrius is coming, he
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: is to be commended. Maybe he was a member of
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: the Ephesian church coming to whatever church this was. He
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: doesn't want Gaius to be influenced by Diotrephes if he's
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: still in the church and thus not to receive Demetrius.
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: It may have been that he was thrown out of
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: the church and maybe he's back in, we don't know
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: those details. But the bottom line is, he says, do
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: not imitate what is evil. Do not mimeomai, do not
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: become a mimic of what is evil. Don't follow that model.
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: Just do what is good. Everybody follows somebody, don't they?
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: You choose whether you're going to follow those who do
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: good or those who do evil. And he goes right
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: back to the basic principle, verse 11, the one who
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: does good is of God, the one who does evil
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: has not seen God. It's that simple. That sounds like
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: 1 John, doesn't it? Back to the distinction between the
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: true Christian and the false Christian, the moral test. The
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: person who does good is of God. The person who
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: does evil is not of God. The person who does
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: righteousness is of God. The person who sins is not
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: of God. To do good is evidence of divine birth
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: for you're ordained unto good works. So imitate those who
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: do good. John may well be saying that it's doubtful
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: if Diotrephes is even a Christian and I will tell you, folks,
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: there are many churches ruled by Diotrephes-like personalities who claim
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: to be Christians and claim to be spiritual leaders but
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: in fact are not even Christians at all because they
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: do evil to the servants of God and they live
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: to elevate themselves. They have not seen God. Another way
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: to say they don't know God. They don't know God.
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: So John is again writing this beautiful little letter to
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: his beloved friend Gaius whom he calls beloved repeatedly, whom
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: he loves in the truth, to tell him that he
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: needs to embrace the traveling missionaries, the traveling preachers of
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: the truth for the sake of the extension of the
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: gospel and not be intimidated by a man who loves
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: to have the preeminence who tries to shut this down.
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: for the sake of His own glory. Likely then the
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: primary purpose of the letter was to accompany Demetrius who
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: was coming to visit that area. It may well be
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: that the letter was given to Gaius from the hand
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: of Demetrius sent by John. Demetrius hands him the letter
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: and says, I'm the man of whom John writes. Demetrius,
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: says John in verse 12, has received a good testimony.
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: You received this man. He is one of those mentioned
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: in verse 7 who has gone out for the sake
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: of the name. He is one of those accepting nothing
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: from the Gentiles. Verse 8, one of those we ought
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: to support, one of those with whom we can be
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: fellow workers with the truth. Demetrius, name coming from Demeter,
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: the goddess of fields and crops, another Gentile name. But
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: do you know in the Old Testament how many, if
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: something was to be affirmed as true, how many witnesses
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: were needed? Two or three? Or three, right? Everything had
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: to be confirmed in the mouth of two or three witnesses,
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: Deuteronomy 17 6, Deuteronomy 19 15. Notice three witnesses to
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: Demetrius in verse 12. He's received a good testimony, first
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: from everyone. Do you know very many? people like that?
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: From everyone, hupapanton, all. The testimony of everyone to Demetrius
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: in the past remains valid in the present, perfect passive.
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: He has received an ongoing and continually good testimony from everyone.
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: Second witness, and from the truth itself, that is to
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: say you can measure Him by His doctrine, you can
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: measure Him by the truth, He is loyal to the truth.
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: And again, it's an ongoing thing. The truth He professes
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: and the truth He preaches is the truth He embodies
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: and lives. It is self-evident and always has been. And thirdly,
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: verse 12, He says, and we also bear witness. John says,
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: we bear witness. We continue to bear witness. Gaius, if
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: you have any question about this man, everybody will testify
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: to his character and his faithfulness. The truth will testify
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: to his character and faithfulness. He can be measured against it.
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: And we also, as an apostle, bear witness and you
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: know that our witness is true. You know you can
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: trust Me. How do you know a man's worth? What
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: does everybody say about him? How does his life match
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: up with Scripture? And what do Christian leaders say about him?
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: And when you get a man who passes muster on
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: all three of those, open your arms, notwithstanding diatrophies or
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: anybody else, and embrace the man. Well, that closes the
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: letter on hospitality, really, in a short one. And again,
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: underlying all of this is the truth. The truth needs
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: to be spread. If it's going to be spread, the
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: church has to support the preachers of the truth and
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: the missionaries. We have to embrace them when they're faithful
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: to the truth. We can't see them as a threat
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: to our positions of power and preeminence. If we're going
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: to follow an example, may it be an example of
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: one who sacrificially loves, not one who seeks to be preeminent,
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: lest we betray the fact that we may not know
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: God at all. And then comes the closing, very parallel
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: to the closing of 2 John, so we'll just look
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: at it briefly. I had many things to write to you,
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: I'm not willing to write them to you with pen
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: and ink. Remember what we read at the end of
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: 2 John? Having many things to write to you, I
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: do not want to do so with paper and ink.
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: Exactly the same thing. Verse 14, I hope to see
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: you shortly. I want to come and see you. Same
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: thing He said to the lady. and her family in
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: the second epistle, I hope to come to you and
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: speak face to face so that your joy may be
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: made full. I told you that actually means mouth to mouth.
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: I don't want to say any more than this in
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: a letter. I want to come and see you face
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: to face. And then He closes,' Peace be to you.'
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: And I'm sure He wished that peace could pervade that congregation.
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: And then he adds, the friends greet you, which adds
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: intimacy to the brothers. Gaius and John must have had
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: mutual friends that they both knew. And then he adds,
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: greet the friends. I love this, by name. John, the
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: beloved apostle, John, the great apostle, the last apostle who
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: had that amazing life with our Lord Jesus Christ who
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: lived into his 90s. who was now the only Apostle
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: left who had absorbed so many friendships and relationships, still
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: knew the names... still knew the names of the people in
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: his life. And he closes out his last letter by
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: affirming how important friendship is, fellowship is, and peace in
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: the church. Three great truths stand out and I'll close.
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: Know the truth and walk in it. Second, be hospitable
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: to others who preach the truth. Third principle, pattern your
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: life after godly examples. And then there will be peace
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: in the church and God will be glorified in His church. Well, Father,
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: we thank You tonight for this insight into what seems
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: such a small thing And yet how really critical it
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: is that the church be what you want it to be.
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: Protect your church from evil men who rise to power
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: and protect your faithful servants from the deatrophies of this
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: world who bring grief and pain and sadness to those
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: who want to serve faithfully. not just for the sake
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: of the servant but for the sake of the church.
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: Protect your church. We pray that your church would be
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: under the leadership of the humble, the godly and the faithful,
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: those loyal to the truth who are selfless and sacrificial,
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: that you truly might be glorified in your church. And
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: may we with open arms embrace with love all those
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: faithful preachers and missionaries May we never be so foolish
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: as to be threatened by anybody who comes to us
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: from You. We pray, Lord, that You'll continue to bless
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: our church with protection from this. May we continue to
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: know Your grace that humbles us. For this we'll give
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: You praise because our heart's desire is that Christ would
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: be glorified in His church and not any man ever.
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: We pray in His name. Amen. You've been listening to
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: John MacArthur, Bible teacher with Grace to You. For free
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: access to all of John's lessons and a listing of
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: study Bibles and books available for sale, visit Grace to
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: You's website at gty.org. John MacArthur and Grace to You
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: reserve all copyright protection under applicable law. Our copyright policy
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: is available at gty.org, and it includes instructions for and
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: limitations on duplicating this digital file.