3 John 1:1 to 6

okay welcome back i'm robert breaker and this will be our continuation in our verse by verse bible study um we finished up before in second john and this time we'll begin here in the book of third john and i'm looking forward to getting into this it's a very short book now last week i said something and i gave some information out there that i was secretly thinking boy i can't wait to hear what my enemies do on this one because i opened up a little can of worms and sadly as far as i know i didn't get any takers you know a lot of times people listen to me just waiting to hear something they don't agree with so they can you know make their little video on youtube and say oh robert brigger is wrong on this so i was fully expecting last time for someone to say that and they didn't so i guess they missed a great opportunity so what i did is i said that the book of second john is the shortest book in the bible and i'm right in saying that but it's how you look at it if you go to the internet and you look up what's the shortest book in the bible most of the time it will come up that third john is the shortest book in the bible well look over here in your bible the second john 2 john has 13 verses third john has 14 verses so it's all how you look at it and i wanted to make sure i made that very clear today and explain that because i said that ii john is the shortest book in the bible well if i look at it as which is the book in the bible that has the least amount of verses then it would be second john clearly second john is the shortest book in the bible if you count the verses 13 verses third john 14 verses but a lot of people i guess don't want to do it that way so they said that the shortest book in the bible is third john because third john has less words than second john so it's really all how you look at it so it's not wrong to say ii john's the shortest book of the bible if in your mind you're saying because it has the least amount of verses nor is it wrong to say third john is the shortest book in the bible if you're counting the shortness as how many words so the book of second john has 298 words the book of third john has 294 words so if you go by how many words are in a book in the bible and count that looking for the shortest book in the bible then third john would be the shortest book of the bible but if you look at it as well one of the shortest book as far as the least amount of verses well then you would say second john so do you see how there's two ways to look at it so i just wanted to make sure i made that clear and i was like oh man they're going to attack me on this i can't wait to explain it and nobody attacked me it's like oh man which is fine but i want to make sure i explain that to you because you can't say it either way but always define how you're looking at what do you mean by this what do you mean is the shortest book in the bible do you mean the shortest book by how many verses or do you mean the shortest book of the bible by how many actual words are in it and once again second john has 298 words while third john has 294 words so there are actually four words less in the book of third john than there is in the book of second john but yet second john has only 13 verses and third john has 14 verses so there are more verses in third john so we're looking at third john today it has one chapter 14 verses 294 words it's written by the apostle john written between 90 to 100 a.d and it's written to a man who actually is named which is a blessing because uh second john there's no name it's to some woman he's writing to the elect lady and her children but it's written for this purpose to give a warning of diotrophies and a recommendation of demetrius and that's basically what the book is about so we're going to look at that today and it's interesting remember we looked at the time of this writing was the time when they began to rise up those that were called the gnostics so i was wondering if maybe diotrophies was a gnostic if not maybe he was starting to become one or starting to go that direction or or something but he's definitely someone who according to verse nine there wanted to be all about him instead of all about jesus so let me give you the outline here of the book of third john the outline is this the first four verses i call the consideration he's writing a letter to someone that's what an epistle is writing a letter so he's writing a letter to this guy and he's basically just taking the first four verses to just say you know i'm thinking about you now that's the greeting but it's also he's being considered he said hey i want you know i'm thinking about you guys i'm glad to hear you all are doing good and things like that so a lot of times a letter just shows you that hey you're thinking about me have you ever written anybody a letter i remember the old days we used to write a lot of letters but nowadays people don't do a lot of letters now they just do a text and it's just not as personal isn't it a lot of times a letter hand written is so personable it's just oh i love to receive letters like that so verses five through eight would be what i like to call the confirmation and he goes through there and he tells them now this is what you're doing and this is what you're supposed to do and and it's been confirmed to me i understand that you guys are doing that and it had to do with charity and so that was interesting then verses 9 through 11 where the condemnation of this guy diotrophies bad dude bad dude and he has to point out that this guy you got to watch out for him but then he does a complete reversal and go now there's a guy here that you don't have to watch out for he's a good guy and look into demetrius and so he recommends him or does a commendation of him and then verses 13 through 14 are the conclusion and when i look at this book number one i don't see grace i don't see the blood i don't even see the name of jesus mentioned but he talks about the name or the name's sake so we know he's alluding to the name of jesus but this is not a very evangelistic book there's not a lot of doctrine here it's basically having to deal with some things that are happening in the church and saying now this is what he's doing that's not the way it's supposed to be this is how you're supposed to do that so i guess you could say that's doctrine in the sense of doctrine of how to run a local church but there's really not a lot of salvation message in this book and so that's good to know but it ends in such a way and it just seems like it just ends too quickly and it kind of ends the same way as second john remember second john having many things to write unto you i would not write with paper and ink but i trust to come unto you and speak face to face that our joy may be full so you know i could write a lot more but i think i'm going to see you soon and we'll talk then but when you get to third john i had many things to write verse 13 but i will not with ink and pen right unto thee but i trust i should shortly see thee and we shall speak face to face peace be to thee our friends salute thee greet the friends by name so it's like it's it's hurried like it's cut off like there was more that should have been written but it was short why is that i i don't know but it is what it is and it's an interesting book and it gives us more insight into the early church more insight into christianity more insight into how the early church practiced what they practiced and i'm going to say this i can't help but see paul when i go through this book okay so i go and i read this book of third john and i see paul so i want you to see that there's some pauline doctrine so where it agrees with paul that's where we can have it for ourselves and so i'm looking at this and believe it or not this is written after paul remember john lived the longest and paul was here and then peter over here and so john lived the longest so after paul wrote all of his epistles well john wrote his course he probably wrote the gospel of john a little before around the time of paul but it was after that that he wrote first second third john and then the book of revelation so john would have known paul and i'm going to prove it to you today that that they they probably wrote to each other and a lot of things that paul wrote it looks like john accepted and taught as his doctrine so where he lines up with paul that's what we take for us today that's called rightly dividing so a lot to get into today now second john again was written to some woman as we saw before unto the elect lady how about first john who was that written to well it sounds like that was written to christians in his day and we looked at how there was a possible application to how it could be out here in the tribulation also because after the rapture that book could also apply to those that are in the tribulation period so this book third john who is it written to a specific man in verse one it says the elder and to the well beloved gaius whom i love in the truth so now we see a man mentioned and the man that it's written to is it's written to gaius now who is gaius i hope i spelled that right g-a-i-u-s who is gaius well that's a good question remember in the bible there's a lot of people that share their first name with someone else there's several simons in the bible we saw before there's two james okay there's two john's at least there's uh this john the apostle then was john the baptist before him so a lot of people in the time of jesus they they had the same name there were many names that were so common that uh you meet a guy and his name's judas well there was another judas and another judas and another jew so you had to know judas iscariot or judas of this and how they knew who they were by number one who their father was and number two where they were born and i look at that through history and i find that very interesting very interesting you get into this thing where names are what your first name is but in order to distinguish you from someone else with that same first name oftentimes you would have where you were from so iscariot judas iscariot means man of kyrioth okay so that's why he's called judas iscariot he was judas from carryoff but also the jews did something interesting they put bar bar sabbas you ever heard of bar sabbas bar means son of so simon barjona in the bible simon son of jonah okay so there's a lot of different ways in order to not confuse people's names now the romans what the romans did is they usually gave three names and you know what i found is that carries over to us today a lot of people on their birth certificate three names john michael williams or something like that three names well i have three names robert ray breaker okay but i don't like tradition i've always not liked tradition but that's been the tradition since the time of of rome you know marcus aurelius antonius or something they would always give you i'm timotheus felicius cases or something they always had three names so that was always the tradition back there so my wife and i we decided you know what we're gonna do we're gonna break tradition so when we had our kids we gave our kids four names our last name breaker but each one of them has three names so they really have two middle names if you will and we did that just to be different you don't have to always do it the same way but that's the way it was and i find in spain and in spanish countries a person's name is very long i mean jose rodriguez de valere and then they put the name of their mother de lopez or something like that so you really get a long name in spanish-speaking country because they give you the last name is the name of the father and then day and whatever the last name of the mother was and that way you could really figure out who that person was because there's a lot of jesus and a lot of jose in countries like that so you need another name and then another name and then okay could still be the same so what was the name of your mother uh her maiden name oh oh you're that guy okay so as we go through the bible we see a lot of that we see a lot of names that are the same and so we see how to distinguish between them is oftentimes it had an addition to it like was it the the sons of thunder boer genus was was uh the name that was given to them in the bible and things like that so as we get here in the book of third john we look at this we see gaius and we go huh gaius gaius the bible mentions this guy named gaius four times could this be the same gaius well it is a definite possibility that this is indeed the same gaius that is mentioned in the other four passages and if so that means he was a guy that was with paul so someone that paul was able to to preach to and even looks like convert became now someone that the apostle john is writing to so they all ran in the same circle as what i'm trying to say let me give you some examples of that let's go to ii peter and many of the people that got saved under paul's ministry they went to peter they went to john they went to the other apostles and because they were all christians they were all saved they all ran in the same circles and what did they believe well they all would have believed the same thing acts chapter 15 they all got on the same page and salvation is by grace through faith so they're all preaching the message of paul so in paul's ministry you see people accepting the things that god gave paul and you see these guys running together let me show you this first peter 5 12 we see these words first peter 5 12 by sylvanius a faithful brother unto you as i suppose i have written briefly exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of god wherein ye stand sylvanius so he mentions a guy named sylvanius and so here is sylvania's now look at verse 13 the church that is at babylon elected together with you saluteth you and so doth marcus my son so we see two people mentioned here we see sylvanius or sylvanus there's sylvanas and then there's marcus okay and these guys are with peter now let's look over in second corinthians 1 19 we find these people are with paul so these people are going back and forth around the apostles and learning from all of them 2 corinthians 1 19 for the son of god jesus christ who was preached among you by us even by me and silvanus and timotheus was not yea and nay but in him was yea so here you see paul now i don't have time to look up first thessalonians 1 and 2 thessalonians 2 1 but you can go there and again sylvanus so sylvanus went with paul as well and so you see paul running with the same crowd that peter ran with so does that mean that john also would have run with the same crowd that would have run with peter and james and john so i'm giving you all this to ask that question because if so then that would mean the gaius mentioned over here in third john is of course the same gas that was mentioned in the other part of the bible let's look at uh another one though first we looked at first peter and i read where it says mark is my son well if you go to colossians chapter 4 look at what it says here colossians 4 verse 10 paul the apostle is saying something he says colossians 4 10 he says aristarchus my fellow prisoner salute with you and marcus sister son to barnabas barnabas would be barr son of nabas touching whom you receive commandments if he come unto you receive him so here's marcus and again you could look it up in philemon and uh verse 24. philemon 24 and you don't have to go there if you don't want to i'll read it real quickly marcus r starkist demus lucas my fellow laborers okay so you got these people that paul knew and that peter knew and now it looks like john would have probably known them too because i'm going to go to the verses now on this gayest fellow and guess who gaius is running around with this guy so could this guy and this guy know the same fella if so then a lot of the early church they got together a lot and met together with the other apostles which means they were all on the same page all following what god revealed to paul and that is very important that we see so let's go back to third john and there it begins third john by saying the elder the elder of course would be john john who is writing this john the apostle the elder and to the well beloved gaiest whom i love and the truth now who is gaius well let's go to acts chapter 19 and see him and if this is the same gaius you know that's what i'm saying if it is i can't say for certain that this is that same gayest because this would have happened about 60 a.d and here's this like 40 years later but hey maybe he was only 20 30 back then maybe he too is old i don't know it could be the same game it could be the son of gas it'd be a difference so it's hard to know for certain that this is this gaius but it certainly could be and it could work that it is the same gaius because a lot of times you see men that are mentioned in the bible that are with all the apostles okay let me give you some examples here uh just some verses of acts 19 29 acts 19 29 says this and the whole city was filled with confusion and having caught gaius and our starkists men of macedonia paul's companions in travel they rushed with one accord into the theater so is this the gayest that john is writing to if so this would be someone that traveled with paul and would have learned under the feet of paul and things like that acts chapter 20 and verse four acts chapter 20 verse four and they accompanied him into asia sopater of berea and of the thessalonians are starcus and secundus and gaius of derby and timotheus and of asia tychicus and profamus so is this that same gaius it could be it could be let's go to romans chapter 16 and verse 23 so if it is he's mentioned several times in the bible and he's probably very well forgotten i mean how often do you hear someone preach a message on gaius i don't know if i ever have but he's in the bible he's in the bible romans 16 23 gaius my host and of the whole church saluteth you erased us the chamberlain of the city saluted you and quartus a brother so gaius here's gaius mentioned again now let's go to first corinthians 1 and verse 14. now look at this is christ divided i'm starting there in verse 13. was paul crucified for you or were you baptized in the name of paul verse 14 i thank god that i baptize none of you but crispus and gaius so is this the same gayest this guy named gaius is mentioned four times it sounds like he's probably the same fella so let's go back to third john and if this is the same gaius and i don't see why it wouldn't be it could very well be then you have this fella john writing to him i say man i love you why is he well beloved because he was well known among the early church and we've got him like all over the place corinth and over here in another place and over here in a different place he's traveled and traveled with paul so he would have been one of the pillars of the early church so it sounds like it could very well be this same gaius and he's writing to him and he's writing to him about a thing that took place in a church where a guy named diotrophies did something bad and so is gaius the pastor of one of these churches that's one of the questions i have or is gaius just one of his friends uh because look what it says there in verse 14 the end there greet the friends by name is he saying hey guys you're one of my friends i'm writing to you because you're my friend i'm considering and thinking about you or is he writing to this guy because this guy became a pastor of one of the local churches and he wrote to john and said john we got a problem in this church and john's writing back okay here's what you do okay that i don't know but as we get into this i think you can form your own conclusion but i i think this gayest fella has to be the same gaius that the bible mentions in those other passages that would have known uh paul and peter and all these other fellows it just it would make sense right and and what was this written well like i said 90 to 100 a.d well that's 30 or 40 years after some of the things that took place in the bible so if he would have been 20 well he would have been 60 or if he had been 30 he would have been 70 if the timeline works it could very well work that this is that gaius so we go to verse one and look what he says the elder john unto the well beloved gaius most likely that gaius mentioned in the bible whom i love and the truth well he's well beloved and he loves him why would he say love twice you're my well beloved who i really love well maybe because he was that well known because he was that gayest that was around and traveling with paul and knew most of the people that were christians at that time now verse two beloved i wish above all things so look at that well beloved gaius whom i love and the truth now beloved so it sounds like he's writing to gaius but he kind of in his mind knows and other people probably read this too so hey beloved everybody else that's beloved if you're reading this also and that really is what our new testament is it's full of what's called epistles which are letters and paul writes this letter to the church he says it's okay if you copy this letter and give it to others because in this letter what i'm saying is not just for one person it's for the whole church and so i think he knew that the whole church was going to read third john so it was okay that's why he says here beloved okay i'm writing directly to gaius over this subject but this is something that's going to apply to the whole church and so everybody who saves should probably read this and they should belove it i wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health even as thy soul prospereth now here we have and i told you before that pentecostals your charismatics that have this prosperity gospel they love first second third john they spend most of their time in these books why because of this their prosperity gospel and they're like see here's prosperity i i would thou should prosper okay yeah yeah i can see that but there's a a distinction here and there's kind of a comparison here he's making a comparison he says i want you physically to prosper and be in health but even as your soul is prospering so he's saying this is the physical now the spiritual too i know you're saved i know you're a saved man and you're blessed you have all spiritual blessings in heaven and i hope down here too you have some blessings but which of those two is the most important the prosperity the riches the good health or salvation without a doubt being saved is more important so that's why he says even as thy soul prospers so first get saved after that worry about making money and being healthy and all that stuff but that shouldn't be the most important thing a problem with a lot of these people that's all they think about is the carnal and they are not spiritual people a lot of times many aren't even saved they're not preaching the blood of christ for salvation they're not preaching the gospel their preaching is a workspace gospel instead of grace through faith alone they don't know their bibles so they want to preach on prosperity and health without preaching the way of salvation and that's sad that's sad so he's writing to him he's wishing him health and prosperity that's physical saying i'm hoping that physically you you have good health and you prosper but then he says even as your soul prospereth so he's saying but the most important aspect is the spiritual one and so i hope that you really prosper spiritually in the sense that i hope you win a lot of people to the lord because that's your soul saved now go get other souls saved and just walk in the spirit that you fulfill not the lust of the flesh so we continue there and a lot of things that are really cool there in verse three for i rejoice greatly well there we go that sounds just like the apostle paul doesn't it he says rejoice and again i say rejoice so here we go i rejoice greatly when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee even as thou walkest in the truth so that has to go back to gaius so he's writing this literally to gayest so literally in his mind he's saying yes i hope you prosper and then gaius some people visited me and told me that you're doing good and it made me rejoice that you're still walking in the truth and that you're doing right and so that's a blessing now when we get to verse four we get a little bit of a what now verse four i have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth now wait a minute if this is that gayest that we read paul's the one that led him to the lord it sounds like so why is john now calling gaius my children why is he calling him his child so we look at that we kind of go so is this the same gaius or could this be maybe the son of that gaius just gave him the same name yes i don't know but john i think what it is is john just looked at everybody who was a christian as his children and he was the last apostle because he was the one that lived the longest and so he just looked at them all said man i love y'all you're all my children in christ and and i just feel like i'm i'm the last apostle so i care for you and i think that's what we're seeing here now rejoiced i rejoice greatly turn over to philippians 4 10. i told you that sounds like paul and it does just look at a verse here of paul philippians chapter 4 and verse 10. and philippians 4 10 says but i rejoice in the lord greatly well i just i just read that for i rejoice greatly he says and third john but i rejoiced in the lord greatly that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again wherein you were all so careful but you lacked opportunity so your care of me you care about me well that's what it sounds like over in third john i care about you i hope you prosper and be in good health so i see a lot of correlation as i read through john with paul because paul preached what he preached and wrote a lot of the new testament one of the 14 books and john would have been reading those over and over and over so a lot of this he would have remembered from what he read in paul so we see that and look at verse 3 again for i rejoice greatly when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee even as thou walkest in the truth so while he is writing this he's probably still on the island of patmos and if you know the history on the island of patmos that was a place that the romans kept as an island that was their alcatraz of the time if you will they put undesirables on that island and they couldn't get off you couldn't swim because it was kind of away from land and it was a prison camp it was a concentration camp so the apostle john is in a concentration camp and we don't know if he ever got off in the book of revelation when you read it you you see that he says i'm on the island of patmos writing this and uh so god told him what to write while he's on that island so in the end of second john he says i'm going to come unto you i trust to come unto you and speak face to face in the end of this one he says i trust i shall shortly see thee so did he get off of that island and was he able to go see them we don't know i've always wondered about that some say that they've read some books that say he did get off the island he was able to live to be like 120 or 130 years old or something like that i don't know that's not in the bible so i don't know if i should believe that or not right if it's in the bible i believe it so did he eventually leave that island and be able to go and visit these people that's a question that i want to ask when i get to heaven because i honestly don't know but what he says here happened was while he was there and it appears that he was on the island when he wrote this he says um when the brethren came and testified of the truth so there were other christians that were able to visit him so maybe the roman empire let them come in like you know if a person's in jail you have a visitation time maybe they would come and were able to visit and they said hey john by the way olga's is still going at it how old is olgas now well he's about 70 you know but he's still serving the lord and oh amen and they're all rejoicing knowing and seeing that other christians are still serving the lord and the older i get the more i like that too and i've found let's see i'm 40 something i won't say how old let's say it's over 45 though i'm older than 45 and i run into other christians all the time that i haven't seen for 15 20 years and say hey whatever happened to brother so and so hey what where's brother so-and-so hey hey brother what happened and sometimes well brother he got sick and died and oh it hurts me oh brother he's a pastor up and so and so and he's preaching yeah amen and i rejoice and i love to hear about other christians in and that they're doing well and that they're serving the lord so you know what they did back then is the same that we that are christians today can do and we can identify with this and we do so he says the brethren came and testified so who are the brethren what could have been sylvanus or timothy or luke or titus or others probably some of those are starkists maybe that were with paul that now that are going over and visiting with john because well he's the last apostle paul had died i think paul if i remember i died around 70 something a.d so here we are way after that and if you were a christian back then you would have been like well the last apostles john so let's go over and visit them and learn from them and you know and things like that so verse four now well let's read verse three again for i rejoice greatly when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee even as thou walkest in the truth so there was a great rejoicing there because some brethren came to visit him most likely on the island of patmos and they talked and they rejoiced that other christians were still alive and doing what they were supposed to be doing as christians preaching the gospel now verse four i have no greater joy now where have i heard that before no greater joy there's a fellow on youtube named michael pearl and that's the name of his ministry i used to be for many years no greater joy ministries if i remember correctly i remember preaching for him one time in tennessee the cane creek church and they built a church right over a creek and they just called it the church at cane creek because the church was kind of built right over the creek it was kind of cool and he's a real blessing he's got some good stuff on youtube if you do want to watch michael pearl i haven't haven't listened to him in years but i remember back then many many many years ago when i preached for him that he was dead on with a lot of good doctrine it was a real blessing but that's where he gets this name for his ministry no greater joy ministry i believe he got it from right here i have no greater joy that's michael pearl i have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth so why is he calling his children if paul would have fled him to the lord i don't know i guess he's looking at them spiritually as children because they're the next generation and yet he was the generation the apostles so they were the next generation so maybe you know if you're a grandpa you see anybody that's younger than you go come here child you know so maybe that's what we're seeing because john would be very old right here he's probably in his 80s or or even older as as they're writing this so his greatest joy is to hear others serving the lord and living for him and walking right and doing right so look at that again the end of the verse verse 4 says walk in truth i have no greater joy to hear that my children walk in truth and when i heard that i go here we go again you know who talked about a walk more than anybody paul and we saw you know in uh first first john i believe it was about your walk and i can't remember yeah and in second john also we talked about your walk and how you should walk so let's look up some verses real quick on the christian walk and see what paul says about it how should we walk let's go to romans chapter 6. here we are almost 2 000 years later and christianity is still around and here we are and there are true christians and there are false christians and i hate to say that but there are a lot of people out there that claim to be christians with their mouth but their actions and the old saying is actions speak louder than words their actions make you go i don't know if that's a christian because he says he's a christian but he's not walking the way that the bible says a christian is supposed to walk romans chapter 6 and verse 4 therefore we are buried with him by baptism unto death that like as christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the father even so we also should walk in newness of life so after you're saved you're supposed to walk differently than you walked before you were saved okay there's sins that you did openly that were evil and wicked and you had no shame about well after you get saved you get the holy spirit and when you get the holy spirit and you sin it grieves you so as you grow as a christian you're going to be like oh i don't want to do that anymore oh i used to do that i don't want to do it and you're supposed to grow as a christian and not do those things your walk is going to change the closer you get to the lord the more you want to live a holy life and the more you want to quit this sin or that sin or the other sin and i know it's a constant struggle but the bible says that we're supposed to walk the way god wants us to walk romans chapter 8 verse 1 how's the best way to do that well walk in the spirit not in the flesh romans 8 1 says there is therefore now no condemnation of them which are in christ jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit look down there in verse 4 that the righteousness of the law be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit romans chapter 13 verse 13 so paul had a lot to say about your walk and here john is saying man i'm so glad these people are continuing their christian walk so what is he insinuating i'm glad they're listening to paul and walking the way paul said to walk of course he also tells us in second john you know how to walk also but a lot of what was given to the early church were the revelations and the mysteries given to paul so that's why i keep pointing us back to paul amen romans chapter 13 verse 13 let us walk honestly as in the day not in rioting and drunkenness not in chambering and wantedness not in strife and endings so when we're saved we shouldn't get drunk and go fornicate like you did before you were saved that's not what god wants he wants us to try to live a sinless life as much as we can now is that possible oh well the more you get in this book the less you'll sin so you need to be reading your bible every day and do your best to stay away from those kinds of sins because god doesn't want you to walk in sin he wants you to walk in righteousness as that verse said second corinthians chapter four and verse two this is how we should not walk second corinthians 4 2 but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of god deceitfully but by manifestation of the truth committing ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of god so don't walk dishonestly don't walk in craftiness don't walk twisting the bible and perverting it that's what some people do but do right let's get another one let's go to galatians chapter six i want to go through this list here real quick just to give you this because as we get back to third john you know what we're going to see there's a man named diotrophies who was not walking right and so he writes the book to say hey by the way i'm glad you guys are walking right don't be like this guy who's not okay and then he tells us what he was doing wrong and we look at that we go so that's what he did and he wasn't walking the way the bible says to walk um galatians 6 16 galatians 6 16 says and as many as walk according to this rule peace be on them and mercy and upon the israel of god so where there's a certain way we're supposed to walk as a christian and if we do walk right it sounds like there'll be peace on us well we all want peace don't we you can really get in a mess the more you sin the more you sin the more you're going to have to give account for and the bible says you reap what you sow and boy what a mess you get in oh what a tangled web we weave when it first we practice to deceive or however that old shakespeare saying goes ephesians chapter 2 ephesians chapter 2 verse 2 where in time pass you walked according to the course of this world according to the prince of the power of the air the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lust of our flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature the children of wrath even as others but god who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in sins yet quickened us together with christ by grace you are saved and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in christ jesus that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through christ jesus for by grace you saved through faith and that not of yourselves is the gift of god not of works lest any man should boast now look at verse 10 for we are his workmanship created in christ jesus unto good works which god hath before ordained that we should walk in them so works do not save us but after we're saved god says now that you're saved i'd really appreciate it if you would walk in doing good works if you would just do good and not do bad anymore is that asking too much i don't think so for all that jesus did for us i don't think it's asking too much for us to do something for him all right now let's go to ephesians chapter four and verse one ephesians 4 1 i therefore the prisoner of the lord beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation where with ye are called and then 5 2 and walk in love as christ also have loved us and have given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to god for our sweet smelling savor now let's go to second thessalonians chapter three second thessalonians chapter three verse six now we command you brethren in the name of our lord jesus christ that you withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly and not after the tradition which you've received of us so if a man claims to be a christian and you're a christian and that man is living in sin and not walking the way the bible says you're supposed to go all right i just can't fellowship with you until you get right and hopefully he'll go no no no i want your fellowship okay i'll do right you know but a lot of christians go fine they go sin even more and that's that's not right look at verse 11 same chapter for we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly working not at all but our busy body so there are some out there that claim to be christians that don't do a a good job as far as walking the way they should and there comes a time when if a person's a christian but they're living openly in sin where we have to go okay bye-bye i mean i can't i can't have anything else to do with you because you're disobeying the scriptures you're living in open sin i have to withdraw myself and i've had to do that in my life on occasion with people that i love that were my friends but they just they wanted to go down their path and they did and they they really messed up their lives in a lot of ways and i just i feel sorry for them now let's go to philippians philippians 3 verse 16. philippians 3 16 nevertheless one and two we have already attained let us walk by the same rule let us mind the same thing verse 17 brethren be followers together of me and mark them which walk so as you have us for an example for many walk of whom i have told you often and now tell you even weeping they are the enemies of the cross of christ so paul says if there's someone who's walking incorrectly as a christian withdraw yourself but if someone like me paul says is doing right mark me and and use me as an example i'm walking in the lord and i'm walking correctly i'm a role model now you follow me and do what i say and that is so amazing because here in third john we see the same thing in the book of third john there's a guy named theotrophies and john's writing saying watch out for him he's not walking right okay now here's a guy demetrius now he's walking right so accept him he's a good brother receive him so we see a lot of what paul is writing about we see it in practice in john and his epistles a couple more verses colossians chapter 2 and verse 6 as you have therefore received christ jesus the lord so walk ye in him and then let's look at first thessalonians 4 first thessalonians 4 then we can move on but i just wanted to give you all these verses about walking and how we're supposed to walk first thessalonians chapter four in the first that's romans chapter four verse one furthermore then we beseech your brethren and exhort you by the lord jesus that as you have received of us how you ought to walk and to please god so you would abound more and more now look at verse 12 that you may walk honestly toward them that are without and that you may have lack of nothing so walk honestly and you won't lack anything now go back to third john beloved i wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health even as thy soul prospereth and then he says in verse 3 for i rejoice greatly when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee even as thou walkest in truth verse 4 i have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth so paul says if you walk in truth you have lack of nothing so what does it sound like it sounds like if you're walking for the lord and doing right then you'll prosper and be in good health because the lord will reward you now not always sometimes we're doing right and we suffer for it but even then we're supposed to walk right even when the world is falling around us what do we do we walk right and god will always give us a blessing it may not be down here it'll be rewards in heaven because we continue to do right and we didn't let that be an excuse for us to do wrong so clearly john agrees with and follows paul for third john is him warning of a man this fellow and also recommending another man this fella and we see paul recommending people follow those that are doing right mark them as an example of those doing right and follow them and if a person does wrong separate from them all right so now they go back to third john and we read there in verse five beloved now he said beloved already verse two he's again love love love love love do you remember how i always called first john and second john third john the lovey-dovey epistles just love love love love love love and here we see it again verse one well beloved guest whom i love verse two beloved and uh here we go down to this verse beloved verse five beloved thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren and to strangers so here he calls him beloved and he says beloved thou do us faithfully huh beloved now is he still talking to gaius it kind of sounds like he's writing to gaius but he knows other people are going to read it too so it's kind of like he's he knows he has a dual application here but beloved thou does faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brother and to the stranger so he's giving them a confirmation look you need to do what you do for the lord and one of the best ways to do that is preach the gospel to the lost so they can get saved and those that are saved help them help one another as christians well that sounds a lot like paul paul tells us to do that and so do faithfully to other christians to brothers to be consistent in helping others save people sounds like love the brethren right and uh i read this too though look what it says beloved thou do us faithfully whatsoever thou do it's to the brethren comma and to strangers now who are the strangers well i don't know but that reminded me of something that paul wrote look at what paul wrote in hebrews 13 2 hebrews 13 2 be not forgetful to entertain strangers for thereby some have entertained angels unaware i don't know what to do with that verse but that was written early in the church age when angels could still appear to people and angels somehow can appear and look like a human being and in the bible angels don't have wings now there are some classes of angels like the seraphims that do but the other angels just a regular normal angel doesn't have wings the bible tells us they appeared and people thought they were men if they had big huge wings they'd say oh that's an angel they wouldn't say hey it's a man so they can appear and look like men and you would think they were a man and paul tells us that in those days they entertained what were really angels but they appeared as men and the people didn't realize that it was an angel that is creepy now i don't think that's around today i don't think that that needs to be here today i don't know why there would be a reason for that but i'll tell you a story i mean there's there's a possibility that can still happen today i guess and there's definitely a possibility that there are demons that can try to appear like a person i was out surfing one day when i was like 19 years old and this friend of mine and i we get out of the water and we're walking up the beach and all of a sudden we're met by this wild looking man big bushy black beard black curly hair a little bit long not too long smoking a woman's cigarette one of those women's little round narrow little long cigarettes and had a bible in his hand well he came up to him and he says though i'll show you the lord and he started reading you know scripture and stuff like that and when i looked at him i thought to myself this guy looks really odd oh he's reading a verse oh well that verse is to israel because it started out oh israel i said i'm going to take him to this verse and i'm thinking in my mind i need him to see this verse because he's quoting a verse to me that's for old testament we're not there and while i'm thinking this looking at him he's looking up at me and he's still reading the verse looking at me and then looks back down and i'm like creepy what is this you know like he's reading my mind sort of is what i felt like i'm like this is creepy and then he finishes his little passage and slams the book says goodbye gentlemen and he walks away and i look at this guy and he looks at me and this guy he wasn't saved that i was surfing with i wanted to get saved i've been trying to witness to him and and i said what is that he said i don't know either and the guy starts walking down the beach and um i said well i'm glad he's reading bible verses i've been trying to teach you some bible verses if you listen you know we started talking and we were just like but that's weird he's smoking cigarettes and he's smoking little tiny women's what do they call virginia slim or something so that guy's weird i said let's go back and talk to that guy and we turned around and we looked i i don't even know if i should tell you this man it was so weird we saw footprints that went a little ways there were no more footprints okay we saw footprints that just ended and there was no guy i don't know what to do with that i don't like talking about stuff like that i'm sure is the world oh robert breaker believes in visions and dreams of no no i'm just saying i wonder sometimes if we didn't entertain an angel unaware maybe that was a fallen angel i don't know but that was one of the oddest things that i can remember in my life is this guy coming up reading the bible smoking a woman's cigarette slamming it shut and walking away and then when we go to try to find the guy his footprints just that's where they ended he couldn't have gone any other way the waves hadn't washed it away he was far enough i mean i don't know what to do with that but the bible says sometimes in those times i don't know if that's still today you know but uh they entertained angels unawares there might have been one or two other times in my life when i talked to somebody that was very strange and uh they they just seemed very different and i said something to him and kind of walked away in in not even a minute just several seconds later you know come back and that that person's gone and you got to wonder huh i wonder if i entertained an angel unaware i don't know i don't look for that a lot of people they want angels to talk to them be very careful be very careful the bible says that the devil appears as an angel of light if the devil showed up you wouldn't know he's an angel you'd see light and you go oh it must be jesus because god is light no it's the devil so i don't look for angels or anything like that but i do know that in my life there were several unexplained things like that that i saw and all i can do just kind of scratch my head and go i wonder maybe that was a an angel unawares entertained that day on the beach coming out of the water from surfing but what an odd angel i don't know if angels smoke virginia slams you know but still i still can't figure out what happened to that guy how his footprints just i don't know anyway so let's continue here as we go back to third john and in third john look at that in verse five beloved thou do us faithfully whatsoever thou does to the brethren comma and to strangers so what is it they're supposed to do well verse 6 talks about charity so as a christian you're supposed to help other christians this entails trying to love them trying to care for them if they're passing through and they come to your house and they say hey brother selena said if i'm ever here in your town to look you up because you're a christian i got saved under his ministry that person goes well come on in you need to spend the night yeah i need to spend the night i'm on my way here okay and in those days christians helped other christians and would lodge them in their homes and would help them along their journeys and things like that and we see that in the bible do people do that nowadays what a different world it would be if they did well you could save a lot of money on hotel rooms you know let's say i'm traveling a couple hundred miles away and where are you going well i'm going to st louis oh do you know brother so-and-so lives there no no what's his phone number hey brother so-and-so well brother so-and-so told me you're a christian and i'm coming up there oh well come on over to my house and spend the night well okay i mean that that is basically the equivalent but nowadays people are like oh your christian ohio is nice okay well there's a motel close by come on and you're like oh well you know that's expensive part of the reason that they open their homes to the others is so he would save money and not have to give money hotel money to the lost hotel owner that was probably not safe so we see a completely different world nowadays a lot less christian charity and well maybe that's good maybe that's not but let's read it let's go ahead and read this here in verse 5 beloved do thou do us faithfully whatsoever thou does to the brethren into strangers so do things for other christians now he continues here in verse six which have borne witness of the thy charity before the church whom if there's that word if again if thou bring forward on their journey after a godly sort thou shalt do well so in verse six he explains what he's saying in verse five in verse five he says thou does faithfully whatsoever thou does to the brethren and the stranger so he says you're a good faithful christian and being good and godly when you help other christians and he says in verse 6 which have borne witness of thy charity so someone was a witness of their charity and of how faithful they were to walk in the lord and help other christians wow someone bore witness of their charity has anyone ever witnessed you practicing charity what's your testimony i mean as i was reading through this i thought about that for a minute and thought wow he's literally saying hey these people came and visited me and they told me about how great of a christian you were what a wonderful thing that's your testimony you know what your testimony is what others think of you and what you do shows who you are and other people see that and they say well that's a consistent faithful christian who does right and uh does does good to others so yeah i think he's trustworthy and that's what it all boils down to is trust so witness of charity is there anyone out there that has ever witnessed you as a christian being good to other christians do you think somewhere out there there's someone talking about you and they're saying yeah that brother's all right or when they talk about you do they say yeah that guy is awful he is the worst he does this this and this and he's just a horrible christian do you even think about these things you know a lot of people are so self-absorbed and only thinking of themselves that they don't care how they treat other people and they don't even realize that other people see that and go talk about that and say watch out for this guy because he doesn't seem to care about other people i want my testimony to be that i was robert breaker a true christian who did his best to walk right and live right and who really really really tried to help other people and for me the best way i can help you is what the gift that god's given me teaching and preaching of the bible and things like that so charity is key and we see the word in verse 6 for witness of thy charity before the church so what is charity well charity is the most important thing let's go to first peter chapter four verse eight first peter chapter four and verse eight and above all things have fervent charity among yourselves for charity shall cover the multitude of sins so above all things charity now go to colossians chapter 3. so peter preached charity paul we're about to see preached charity now we see john saying practice charity hmm where would you have got that message from from peter and paul and the other apostles and here we see in colossians chapter 3 verse 14 and paul says these words and above all these things put on charity which is the bond of perfectness so charity is key charity is key now i've got a lot more that i want to say let's go to first corinthians chapter 8 verse 1. charity now new versions of the bible they change that to love well the word charity is a much stronger word than love nowadays they twist love and make people think love is just an emotion now love is supposed to be an action as we're studying in the bible and we're even seeing it here in 3rd john hey if you love other christians then do your best to be faithful to care for them and be nice and and help them so charity is a word that you know does mean love but it also carries with it this this connotation of of sacrificial giving as well as caring and loving so it's more than just loving it's i love you and will do anything for you type of a thing that's that's real charity first corinthians 8 1 now is touching things offered unto idols we know that we all have knowledge knowledge puffeth up but charity edifies be careful it's one thing to have a lot of knowledge and that's a good thing but a lot of times people get puffed up and become prideful because they're so smart well just knowing something isn't enough doing something is what god wants you to do and after you're saved he wants you to take what you know and put it into practice by helping and being charitable to others first corinthians 13 1 though i speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not charity i am become as sounding brass or a tinkling symbol verse 2 and though i have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries although i know all this if i don't put in practice what i know i'm nothing and though i understand all mysteries and all knowledge and though i have all faith so that i could remove mountains and have not charity i am nothing now verse 13 and now abideth faith hope charity these three but the greatest of these is charity uh first thessalonians well no no we're in corinthians still uh first corinthians 16 14. first corinthians 16 14 let all your things be done with charity now let's go to first thessalonians three so are you someone that has charity do you know what charity is okay have you ever practiced charity and if so has anyone ever seen you do it i mean in the bible it's recorded john is writing he says yeah these guys over here they they were testifying of a charity that you showed to other christians so these christians saw and said now that guy he's got charity is that something that can be said about you first thessalonians 3 6 but now when timotheus came from you unto us and brought us good tidings of your faith and charity and that you have good remembrance of us always desiring greatly to see us as we also to see you second thessalonians 1 3 2 thessalonians 1 3 says we are bound to thank god always for you brethren as it is me because that your faith growth exceedingly and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth wow they love one another these early christians and they're doing their best they're bending over backwards to help each other out because they love one another first timothy 1 5. now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart and of a good conscience and of faith unfeigned first timothy 4 12. first timothy 4 12 let no man despise thy youth but be thou an example of the believers in word in conversation in charity in spirit in faith in purity negativity wow are you getting a hint here you know a lot of times we use the word charity and a lot of people just think money because giving money to someone that needs it they call that charity and that's part of it if you know a christian that needs money will help them do something to help them put your money where your mouth is i'm a christian okay have you ever helped another christian in need if you haven't well you need to check that walk again you know what i mean uh second timothy 2 22 what does it say here flee also youthful lusts but follow righteousness faith charity peace with them that call him lord out of a pure heart shall follow righteousness faith charity and peace verse 10 of chapter 3 second timothy 3 10. but that was fully known my doctrine manner of life purpose faith long-suffering charity patience wow and now titus 2-2 the of women likewise that they be in behavior as becometh holiness not false accusers not given much wine teachers of good things so the bible really teaches charity and loving one another now let's go back to third john and we'll close here and i'll guess i'll get into this next time that the context of this charity has to do with hospitality and helping people on their journey so let's read verse six which have borne witness of thy charity before the church whom if thou bring forward on their journey after a godly sort thou shalt do well so somebody's on a journey that's a christian and they come to the house of another christian that christian could say oh well how long are you here for well i'm just passing through i'm going up there well stay with me have fellowship let's have dinner uh spend the night and then i'll help you on your way tomorrow you need me to drive you to the bus station do you you know do you need any help with with your journey this is called hospitality and we will look at that next time all right so i guess next time we'll we'll say we're starting in verse seven but we're really going to start it in verse 6 and finish up verse 6 and then we'll continue from there so i hope you're enjoying our verse by verse bible study through third john a lot of stuff to talk about not a lot of you know salvation message but a lot of good just simple milk for christians and how christians should treat one another because whoo there's a lot of christians out there today that don't have charity they're mean and they're hateful and they're angry toward other christians they treat them like garbage they don't treat them the way the bible says we should so you gotta watch out for that so we'll see you next time god bless you bye-bye

Channel: Robert Breaker

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Keywords: 3 John, verse by verse bible Study, King James Bible Study, KJV, Robert Breaker, verse by verse

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Length: 62min 4sec (3724 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 04 2021