3 John 1:11 Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.

As John speaks this morning, he is addressing the “Beloved”. Who are the “Beloved”? In the Old Testament, God called His people Israel the “Beloved”:

Deuteronomy 33:12 (ESV) Of Benjamin he said, “The beloved of the Lord dwells in safety. The High God surrounds him all day long, and dwells between his shoulders.”

In the New Testament, God calls His Church the “BELOVED”.

2 Thessalonians 2:13-14 But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: 14 Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The “BELOVED” are those who have heard the Gospel of salvation, and have surrendered to its call.

Though “God so loved the world” (John 3:16), the world itself is NOT the Beloved of God. The Christian and the Church are “BELOVED” because we have received Jesus as both Lord and Savior. Jesus Christ is the Father’s “BELOVED” Son in whom He is well pleased (Matthew 3:17; Mark 1:11; Luke 3:22; Matthew 17:5). The word “BELOVED” is the Greek adjective agapētos which is a term of deep affection meaning “well favored, highly esteemed”. In the Hebrew, the adjective yāḏîḏ adds the word “lovely” to the mix. It is the word God uses when He looks at His Children by faith in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:16; Galatians 3:26). The “BELOVED” of God do the things that Children of God should do. We previously studied this text:

1 John 3:10 In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.

Illustrate: When I drive my car, sometimes I forget to put gas in it. When I get so low a little warning bell goes off, and the fuel gauge lights up. This lets me know that – unless I stop and gas up – I’ll be dead in the water (or at least on the side of the road) pretty soon. Just as vehicles all gave gas gauges, those who are God’s Beloved have gauges, indicators that they are what they need to be.

John tells us that if you do not do what God says is RIGHTEOUS, then you are acting like a child of the Devil. Further, if you do not love your brother or sister in Christ, then you are mimicking a child of the devil.

Are you God’s “BELOVED”? Have you been saved – born again of the Holy Spirit – because of your faith in Christ Jesus? Have you called upon His Name, believing? Then God gives you a standard by which you MUST live:

3 John 1:11 Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.

“follow not that which is evil, but that which is good”. Those who are God’s BELOVED, His Children, are NOT to follow EVIL, but to follow that which is GOOD.

The Christian Does Not Follow After Nor “Do” Evil

There are times when God’s Children do the wrong thing. Why? Because we all are as broken things. We can drift if we do not come together to “spur each other on to love and good deeds” (Hebrews 10:24, CJB). When Moses, that grand old Saint of God, was leading Israel to the Promised Land, the children of Israel kept murmuring and complaining instead of doing righteousness. When they reached Kadesh in the Desert of Zin the people quarreled with Moses because there was no water in that place. When Moses went to God in prayer, the Lord told Moses to “Take the staff … and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle.” (Numbers 20:8, ESV). Moses did as God said, but being provoked of the people:

Numbers 20:11-12 (ESV) Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock. 12 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.”

The BELOVED of God is not to do as he or she wants, but to do RIGHTEOUSNESS. Our Lord Jesus died on the Cross of Calvary not just to take us to Heaven, but to bring Heaven to us. Jesus died for our sins to free us from sin. The sacrifice of Jesus sets us apart as Children of God:

Hebrews 10:10 (ESV) … we have been sanctified (set apart) through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

The Christian is God’s “Beloved”, not the devil’s plaything. The Christian is God’s Child, a Child of Light, not of darkness. Because of Jesus we are presented to God “holy and blameless and above reproach before {God}” (Colossians 1:22, ESV). Positionally, we are Children of God. But practically, we are to live as Children of God do. The Apostle said:

2 Corinthians 5:21 (NKJV) {God the Father} made {Jesus} who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

We are to BECOME THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN CHRIST. We are to walk like Christ, to talk like Christ, to be like Christ. We are NOT to be like the world, nor to be imitators of this present evil age. The Bible says:

Galatians 1:3-4 Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, 4 Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: 5 To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Jesus did not die for our sins so that we might become more effective sinners. He died for our sins so that we might be DELIVERED FROM THIS PRESENT EVIL WORLD. We are to be God’s light in this dark world. We are to live our lives so as to honor and glorify the One Who gave Himself for us. John said:

3 John 1:11 He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.

Those Who DO GOOD Are Of God

If you are of God, you are to DO GOOD as the Beloved Children of God. Salvation is by faith in Christ. You are not saved BY your works, but BY THE WORK of Christ. The Scripture says:

Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

And again,

Titus 3:5-7 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; 6 Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; 7 That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Salvation cannot be earned nor purchased by your efforts. Prior to Christ every deed that we do – even the ones we rightly try to do – are deficient and short of the glory of God. The Prophet said:

Isaiah 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

Apart from Christ, anything we do falls short. But once we are saved, we POSITIONALLY become the Children of God. Once POSITIONALLY we are the Children of God, indwelt by the Spirit we are to PRACTICALLY follow Him.

We are called to DO GOOD.

Now DOING GOOD is NOT DOING NOTHING. Those who DO NOTHING are not doing good. They are doing NOTHING. They are no value whatsoever. Jesus preached to us:

Matthew 5:13 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

Some of you who profess Christ saved you are saltless salt. You are salt that has lost its savor. You have blended with the world. May 12, 2022 (last year) the “American Worldview Inventory, a survey of America’s Christian Pastors reported:

“a majority of pastors lack a biblical worldview. In fact, just slightly more than a third (37%) possess a biblical worldview and the majority—62%—hold a hybrid worldview known as Syncretism. … This trend is also being seen more widely in American culture, with almost nine out of 10 U.S. adults (88%) embracing Syncretism as their primary worldview.”

It was years of study before I understood Jesus’ parable of salt that lost its savor. It made no sense, that salt that lost its savor would “be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men”. The closest correlation I had to this was when we put salt out on snow and ice patches in the winter to melt the ice. But that’s not what God is referring to. When ancient Kings destroyed cities, they:

Judges 9:45 … took the city, and slew the people that was therein, and beat down the city, and sowed it with salt.

One source notes: “Salting the earth, or sowing with salt, is the ritual of spreading salt on the sites of cities razed by conquerors. It originated as a curse on re-inhabitation in the ancient Near East and became a well-established folkloric motif in the Middle Ages. The best-known example is the salting of Shechem as narrated in the Biblical Book of Judges, 9:45.”

Those who “lost their savor” or refused to be used of God are sometimes used by God when He judges the nation. He casts out those who are unsalty, so that they will be “trodden underfoot”, curses in the land. The point is, dear Christian – DOING NOTHING IS NOT AN OPTION. Some of you, when any suggestion is made in the Church, will find numerous reasons to DO NOTHING.

Those who DO NOTHING BLESS NOTHING. If you PLANT NOTHING, you GET NOTHING.

God wants you to DO GOOD, to DO LIGHT, to SHINE for Jesus. Jesus said:

Matthew 5:14-16 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

You are called of God to do good, not nothing. Are you “Let(TING) your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works”. In our context we read of a professing Christian who is resisting the work of God:

3 John 1:9-10 I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not. 10 Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church.

Word Study: The Apostle – under the inspiration of God – “wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes”. The name “Diotrephes” is a Gentile name meaning “nourished by Jupiter”. Jupiter was a Roman idol, a false god who oversaw all aspects of life. Oddly enough, he who was named “Diotrephes” thought he was in charge of God’s Church. He oversaw everything. He was involved in everything. He “loveth to have the preeminence”, to be in first place, to be the center of attention. The word translated “PREEMINENCE” is the Greek philoprōteuō, a compound word philo (to love) and prōteuō (to be first). What is interesting about this word is that prōteuō is a word that is to applied only to Jesus Christ in the Church:

Colossians 1:18 And {Jesus} is the Head of the body, the Church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

The Church exists to glorify Jesus. The Church exists to magnify His Gospel and His Kingdom. “in all things he (Jesus) might have the preeminence”. Anyone who puts themselves first in the Church – like Diotrephes did – is trying to take Jesus’ rightful place. When John – the Beloved Disciple and Apostle of Christ – wrote the Church, Diotrephes “receiveth us not”. He not only rejected John, he rejected Jesus and the other Apostles. Diotrephes was the boss of the Church, and nothing was getting done or passed without his explicit permission.

Diotrephes was like one of those orange traffic cones you see on Tennessee highways. They block and slow down traffic, but really do NONE of the work.

3 John 1:10 Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church.

Word Study: Rather than help the Gospel advance, Diotrephes was “prating against us with malicious words”. Let’s break that down. “prating” is the Greek phlyareō, which means “to utter nonsense, to bring forth idle accusations or empty charges, to falsely accuse another”. The Bible tells us that:

Proverbs 10:8-10 The wise in heart will receive commandments: but a prating fool shall fall. 9 He that walketh uprightly walketh surely: but he that perverteth {God’s} ways shall be known. 10 He that winketh with the eye causeth sorrow: but a prating fool shall fall.

Those who are WISE hear the Word of God and His Apostles, and RECEIVE the COMMANDMENTS of God and are blessed. But the PRATING FOOL will eventually fall. Those who WALK UPRIGHT WALK SURELY, but those who PERVERT GOD’S WAYS will eventually be found out. Those who teach untruths with a WINK OF THE EYE bring about sorrow. The PRATING FOOL will fall.

Diotrephes was a PRATING FOOL. He thought he knew more than God and His messengers. He used malicious wordsagainst the Apostles. This is the Greek ponēros, which means “evil” or “wicked things”, or “that which is diseased or bad”. Jesus used this same word when He said:

Matthew 5:11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil (ponēros) against you falsely, for my sake.

When Jesus taught us the Lord’s Prayer, He taught us to pray:

Matthew 6:13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil (ponēros) For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

Those who will not do the RIGHT as God defines RIGHT, but instead stand against God’s Apostolic Word, are evil (ponēros), the very thing Jesus warned us to pray against. This evil man – supposedly a leader in the Church – is hindering the work of God. Those whom God calls are to support God’s Word. We are not to blend with the world, but to stand firm – not under a rainbow flag, but under the Cross of Christ. We who are His are to be

Ephesians 4:15 … speaking the truth in love, … grow(ing) up into Him in all things, which is the Head, even Christ:

That which is blessed of God will teach the child of God to be like Jesus in ALL THINGS. God is glorified when we grow up to be like Jesus. Diotrephes was not aiding others to be like Christ by keeping the Apostles out of the Church. He was hindering the work of God. He was actively “cast(ing God’s people) out of the church”.

Do Not Be Like Diotrephes. Be Like Demetrius!

After discussing Diotrephes, John says:

3 John 1:11 Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.

Don’t be like Diotrephes. He’s EVIL. He’s NOT a Child of God, but a Child of Satan, a Judas Iscariot among us. No, be like Demetrius.

3 John 1:12 Demetrius hath good report of all men, and of the truth itself: yea, and we also bear record; and ye know that our record is true.

The New International Version renders this passage a little clearer:

Demetrius is well spoken of by everyone—and even by the truth itself. We also speak well of him, and you know that our testimony is true.

Don’t follow Diotrephes. Follow Demetrius. Demetrius follows the TRUTH ITSELF. He knows what Jesus has said, and has built his house on the Rock that is Christ. Demetrius is not a hypocrite. He doesn’t behave one way at Church, and another was at work or in the marketplace. He let’s his light shine so that others can see Christ within him.

Dear ones, I tell you there is no salvation outside of REPENTANCE, no restoration to God outside of a surrendered faith in Jesus Christ. Many years ago there was an Evangelist few people know of today called Mordecai Ham. Mordecai was preaching in Charlotte, North Carolina, preaching the need to REPENT and turn to JESUS. One man stood up and angrily said that Mordecai was slandering the “good people” of North Carolina. One of the statements Mordecai made was …

“There are a lot of Christians who are halfway fellows. They stand in the door, holding onto the Church with one hand while they play with the toys of the world with the other. They are in the doorway, and we can’t bring sinners in. And, until we get some of God’s people right, we cannot hoppe to get sinners regenerated. Now they always accuse me of carrying around a sledge hammer with which to pound Church members. Yes sir, I do pound them. Every time I come down, I knock one of the halfway fellows out of the doorway, and every time I knock one out, I get a sinner in.”

One night in Charlotte, North Carolina, Mordecai Ham preached. He started out with, “There’s a great sinner in this place tonight”. There was a young man in the choir that night, raised in the Church, a young man who wanted to grow up and be a professional ball player. Hearing Mordecai preach, this young man came forward, and gave his life to Jesus Christ.

This young man was called Billy Graham.

We cannot win the world for Christ doing nothing. We cannot win the world for Christ standing against God’s direction. We cannot win the world for Christ compromising with the world. We can only win the world for Christ by standing strong in the Word of God, holding firmly to His Truths regardless as to whatever nonsense the devil has the rest of the world stuttering. We must cling to God’s Word, and do good. And, dear one, if you do not know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, let today be the day you come to Him. For God’s glory, and your blessing. Through His Spirit I pray this. Amen and Amen.