Perseverance & Pride 3 - Truth in Action, Demetrius

If you haven't already, turn in your Bible to the book of third John, the third Epistle to John.

I'm going to read the whole letter right now. I haven't done that, but we have visitors to get us caught up. And this isn't the last sermon. There's one more on it, but the last one is sort of a summary. But we will want to get us caught up.

So if you have your Bibles handy, I will read 3rd John, verse 1, the Elder. To the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth. Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health just as your soul prospers. For I rejoice greatly when brethren came and testified of the truth that is in you, just as you walk in truth. Put that line there as you walk in truth.

Put that in your pocket for later, okay? Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for brethren and for strangers who have borne witness of your love before the church. If you send them forward on their journey in a manner worthy of God, you will do well because they went forth for his namesake, taking nothing from the Gentiles. We therefore ought to receive such that we may become fellow workers for the truth. Put that truth in your pocket.

That will come up again. I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to have preeminence among them, does not receive us. Therefore, if I come, I will call to mind his deeds, which he does, prating against us with malicious words and not content with that, he himself does not receive the brethren and forbids those who wish to putting them out of the church. Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God.

And then we get to our text today, and I'll just finish out the couple of verses here. Demetrius has a good testimony from all and from the truth itself. And we also bear witness. And you know that our testimony is true. I had many things to write, but I do not wish to write to you with pen and ink.

But I hope to see you shortly and we shall speak face to face. Peace to you. Our. Our friends greet you. Greet the friends by name.

That's the whole letter. This morning we will pick up with Demetrius. We've already handled the other verses, so if you're just joining us, if you just got in the boat. We've been upstream already a little bit and so we've talked about the people already addressed in the letter. Firstly, that the letter.

The recipient of the letter is Gaius. But I said last time, and I think I've alluded to it, that Gaius was not the intended recipient. The church was supposed to get the letter. John had a desire to write to a church that Gaius and Demetrius and Diotrephes were all at. And apparently Diotrephes hijacked that communication and stopped it from getting to the church.

So that John needed to write instead of to the whole church. He wrote to this man who indeed was a leader in the church. We don't know who the pastor of this church was or if they had multiple pastors or whatever. We don't really know that. Diotrephes seems to have elevated himself to the point of leader, to where he's bossing people around and doing things he shouldn't do.

So we don't know who's in what role in the letter, but we certainly know that things are out of whack. They're not good. And just like when Paul wrote to the Galatian churches and he's condemning the Judaizers for their false teaching and influence of the church, just like when he wrote to Corinth and said that they had been sort of given over to that pressure to not listen to the Apostle Paul and instead listening to other people. This is something that happens in churches to where you might have a good leader or a qualified leadership, and then someone decides to hijack and take over that church. It's a thing.

I think we understand that here. And so I tell you that as we get to this person, Demetrius today, I want to emphasize that they have. John has already addressed two other parties, not including the church. The church is mentioned in the previous verses, but the two men that are mentioned are Gaius, who is indeed walking in truth, and then Diotrephes, who is against the apostle, against leadership. He's against.

In fact, he's overbearing. He has taken control of the church. And now we get to demete today in this context today, it's interesting. I am not going to adequately relay to you the significance of the language that's used in this text regarding testimony, regarding witness, regarding truth. I talked, I alluded to it in Sunday school this morning that everything you and I know, when you use those words, when we talk about justice, when we talk about a judge, when we talk about a jury, when we talk about a trial, the language that we use as Americans, when we use that language, all of it has its origin in our country and biblical understanding.

There would be no justice system the way we know it in The United States of America, if it weren't for the Bible. I'm not saying our justice system is biblical. I'm not saying that. I'm saying its foundations, the principal foundations of law and the rule of law in our country that we hold so dear, even our Constitution, all come from the idea that there is an ultimate law. All come from the idea that there is justice, that there is a need for truth and for justice.

And no, I'm not going to say in the American way for Superman. Do you notice that's missing in the last few years, that they don't say that anymore? That's because people are not proud of our country. But aside from all of that, law is a biblical concept. Justice is a biblical concept.

Testimony are biblical concepts. I'm emphasizing it now because when we start getting to it in the text, when we talk about Demetrius and the testimony about him, the witness about him and his credibility, it is not merely in human terms. These are God's terms, and this is in God's book. And so they have tons of emphasis, to the point where they're practically legal, meaning under the penalty of perjury kind of language. So we won't see that as Americans because we're so used to the language.

And then you hear testimony, we think, oh, yeah, testify like you do in front of people at a church or. Or witness. Yeah, I understand. That means I saw something. No, the words in their biblical context are so much weightier that God has built into his justice system vows and oaths and testimonies and all these safeguards for truth to make sure the truth is said.

Why is all that true? Because God is all of those things. Because God is just. Because God judges, because God uses his law, because God has a testimony himself. He is the ultimate arbiter of what's true or not.

So all of those things have their origin in God. Why would I emphasize all this now? Because something is going to be said of a man today that is not said of a lot of men. And, oh, my goodness, it is not very common in our day. We have an opportunity here to learn from a man who in the courtroom of heaven is not only not guilty, but he's practically, to us, should be heroic.

And I don't want us to miss that. I don't want us in our families to miss that. I don't want us in our church to miss that. I don't want to miss the opportunity that we might have, especially as men, if that's okay for me to sympathize. With heads of household to lead our families well, in these things that are said of Demetrius today.

So yes, he's one man and yes, the testimony is about him in this context. It's about him at this church with these people, with Gaius, who has already shown to be a man of character. Diotrophies in between there. That'd be the worst sandwich in the world, I think if you had Gaius and Demetrius as your pieces of bread and then the meat in the middle was diotrephes. What would that be?

Liverwurst or something like that. You might like liverwurst, but what a bad sandwich. We have these two beautiful pieces of bread on the outside of Gaius and Demetrius with diotrophes, bad attitude in the middle. So we're going to learn from Demetrius today, or we should, how to be people that God would say are his kind of people. Literally.

That's quite literally what's happening in this text with Demetrius and with communion coming, I should probably pray and get us into the text. Let's pray, Father. Now, as we open these words in the book of third John and we hear from John himself about the man Demetrius, and I trust that the introduction with the emphasis on truth and how things are done in your courtroom and according to you, I trust that we will glean from the testimony of Demetrius what we ought to be, that we should be like him, that we should reflect what he reflects, that we should seek your approval the way he does. Now, Father, this is for believers. These verses are for Christians.

And I trust that the people hearing me now and praying along with me now are believers. And if they're not, would you help them with that? But the people who are believers, I think, Father, we all would love to have the testimony of Demetrius, so teach us from his life for our lives today in Jesus name. Amen. Well, I already read it, but the first chunk of verse 12 there says Demetrius has a good testimony from all.

And I hope I've emphasized, and I don't have to reemphasize and give you the whole introduction again and be repetitive, but when it says Demetrius, first of all, that's a special name. It's an interesting name. It doesn't. I don't have a significance of its meaning per se, but I do think it is compelling that this man with a sort of almost Latin name has a good name. But aside from his name, Demetrius has a good testimony from all.

Every one of these words I'm going to be saying are God's words. Now, I don't mean that in the sense that I'm preaching the Bible, what I mean is the word good is God's word. God defines good. Okay? Testimony.

That's God's word. God defines testimony even from all. In this case, the allness of it. I know that's not a word, but you know what I mean, the idea that it's all inclusive. So what I want you to see, it says, demetrius has a good testimony.

The construction of this. I don't like to go too far into Greek. When I was a young preacher, Pastor Heinrich warned me and so did my professors. Be careful. If you spend too much time in the original languages, people will think they are not able to interpret the scripture and in their language.

That is a great warning. And I might even tell you that be careful thinking you're doing something really deep by learning a couple of Greek words. Okay? It's good to know the Greek language. It's bad to know a few Greek words.

That's like Spanish, where you know the wrong words. You know? Yeah, you. If you want to learn the language. Now, I have learned the language and I don't typically appeal to Greek as though you're missing something.

But in this case, it's there in English. But we in English don't talk the way the Greek is talking. Notice the language that says he has a good testimony. This verb for has a good testimony is the word. First of all, it's the word martyr.

And I emphasized before, and I'll do it again just for. For review. Martyr. In modern English, when we use the word martyr, we think of people who die for something, right? And it used to be just die for the Christian faith, but now you can be a martyr for any cause.

Right? But the way we use that word is not the way it's used in the Bible. It's. It is the Greek word martyros where we get the English word martyr. But the meaning in the Bible is just testimony.

So at its basic root meaning a martyr in the Bible is somebody that testifies. And the reason that became equated with dying for the faith is that means people were dying for their testimony, so that when they say they follow Jesus, it cost them their lives. So martyr by itself does not mean dying for something. Martyr from the Bible by itself means giving a testimony. So that's our word here.

But it isn't just the word I want to emphasize. It's its form here in Greek. Here it is a third person singular perfect passive indicative verb. Now, do I spend the next hour explaining that to you or do I just give you the CliffsNotes version of it, what this means, and I don't often emphasize it, but I am emphasizing it here. Perfect.

That perfect tense, the perfect tense is not like the present tense. It's not like the indicative. It's not like the imperative, the perfect tense. So a present tense verb, and there will be one of those coming here in a minute, a present tense verb is an action that is usually taking place in the present. It can be tricky in the New Testament because the present tense isn't always in the present.

It's weird. It's just one of the rules that you have to learn. But typically, the present tense verb is happening right now. And when it's an active voice verb, typically that means it's happening actively, continually. So you would say the difference between I am running, that would mean I'm running right now and I'm actively running.

Got it. But I could also say I ran. That would be in the past. That would not be present. That would be aorist.

But if it was perfect, if it was a perfect tense verb, I could say I ran and I never need to run again. I got all my running done. A perfect tense verb is something that happens in the past and it happens with continuing results. It is a completed action with continuing forever results. Now, this becomes really neat here.

I hope I don't lose you. When it says he has a good testimony. First, it happened in the past, but it's also saying his testimony is so established, his witness, his testimony, his credibility before the Lord is so established that it is a forever kind of testimony. Permanent. He is this man.

He isn't. He didn't used to be this man. He is now this man. And it's also passive voice. It is not Demetrius giving himself his testimony.

Passive means it's happened to him. So think of all the Christians in that day. Now, I know you got to be careful not to be hyperbolic and say all means all, and that's all. All means that's not true. That is not true of the Bible.

All usually means all. But it can just mean everyone there that day. Right? The whole town came out. Does that mean Grandma and Aunt Tilly all came down to the river to see what happened?

The. The idea is all is the big number. And typically it can't. It does and can mean all. But in this case, when it says it, he has a good testimony from all.

Let's just say right now, everybody in the purview of John's influence and voice. So anybody that John would have to deal with and that Demetrius would have to deal with anybody that knew both of them, anybody that knew the church planters, the missionaries, the bigger group of Christians, maybe even surrounding churches. So in the community that John is writing to, when he writes to Gaius should went to the church, Diotrephes intercepted it. In that community, the receivers of this letter, this man, everybody that knows him, they all give him the credibility of being God's kind of man. He has a good, beautiful, awesome, credible God reflecting witness from everyone.

That means if you go to where Demetrius lived, you could not find somebody who could say a bad thing about him in his character. Walking with the Lord. That means everybody that knows him says that is God's kind of guy. Everybody that knows him says that. So John is saying.

Now, I'm sure there might be some people that think wrong, like Diotrephes. Diotrephes thought bad of John and John wasn't the bad guy. Right? So Diotrephes was wrong. But anybody that has any credibility in the area where Demetrius is, they all say he's God's kind of man.

The language here is interesting too. This word and the other word from when we get to the truth, they're the Greek word hoopoe, where we get hypo, like hypodermic, under, right? And so the idea is that if you go, if you all were to follow, or let's say you're standing on the outside, better than follow, because this will be a better illustration. And you see over there a tent labeled truth, the truth of God, the law of God, the words of God, the opinions of God. There's a tent that's labeled that, okay?

And you watch Demetrius walk into that tent. He comes out from under that tent. That's why the word under is here. So he comes out from under the truth or out from under the test, the people. So he's in the group of the people, and he comes out from under those people.

All of those people will heartily agree. Demetrius is God's kind of man. That's amazing. How many people do you know that only have a good testimony? They have nobody that would say anything bad about them.

It is amazing that anybody can have that said about them. The only closest person other than Jesus in the Bible I think of is Joseph, where his credibility and his integrity were impeccable. Right? Nobody is badmouthing Demetrius. My guess is.

Now this is me talking, okay? This is Pastor Johnny speculating. I'm not saying the Bible says this, but I am saying that even his Enemies have to say, man, that's a good guy right there. I don't want to, I don't want to compliment him. I don't like that these Christians are doing all this good stuff and having their way.

But man, you can't say anything bad about Demetrius. He practices everything those people preach, man. He lives the word, he loves the law, he's doing God's things, he has a good testimony from all. Then the next phrase is maybe one of my all time favorite phrases in all of the Bible. And I don't know if you're supposed to have favorites, so be careful saying you have favorite verses.

But if you, if it's okay to have favorite verses, this verse and Colossians 2:14 are mine. But if it's not okay, then I don't have favorite verses. Look what it says. The next thing that said, everybody that knows him says about him. So that's happening to him from outside.

The people are all testifying about him. His testimony is given to him. He doesn't give it to himself. His integrity speaks to the crowd. They say he is indeed what God believes we should be.

And then it says, and from the truth itself, I am blown away by that phrase. I've never gotten used to that phrase. In all my years I've been a Christian over 30 years, I've never gotten used to a phrase, that of a man, the man named Demetrius, that John the Apostle John, who was the one who penned I Am the Way, the Truth and the Life. John, the one who penned that Jesus is the Word Incarnate. He's the one that penned John 17:3 that says this is eternal life, that they know you, the one true God.

John penned that. And John is saying that the truth of God, the entire content of the mind of God, the logos reality, the Word, the testimony, whatever we call truth, the truth itself says of Demetrius, he is God's kind of guy. Wow. Wow. That means if you open the Bible and you say other than Jesus, who is the incarnate Truth, other than him.

I'm looking through the Bible at all the characters I can see in the Bible. I'm looking at my David's, at my Daniels, I'm looking at and I'm trying to see which of these men, which of these characters or women with Ruth and others, which of these women and men of God would I say is the most truthy? They are like, who has the most Bible oozing out of them in their life? Who has the most content, in other words, I want to spend time with the person that every minute I'm spending with them, I am getting the truth of God lived in their life so that I know what a life of God looks like. It literally says, the truth is telling you.

Right now, the Bible is telling you Demetrius is God's kind of guy. Demetrius is a man that God approves of. Hey, who said that? Social media? No.

A vote. Did somebody vote that he is God's kind of guy? No. Did his grandkids or his best buddies say he's great? No.

The truth says, in fact, in this case, it's a present active indicative, not a passive. And it's. The idea is, well, in a moment it'll be a present active indicative. Is that that testimony continues? It continues on and on.

It's regular. Everybody says it. So in the courtroom of heaven, we've said this before. I've said it a thousand times. I'm sorry if it's an old analogy.

I took it from somebody before me, so get mad at them. It wasn't pastor or somebody else. I don't want to throw pastor under the bus. I just heard this analogy my whole Christian life, which is. And you've heard it.

The story is, if you were charged with being a Christian by a court, would there be enough evidence to convict you? Like if you were on. On the stand and you were the defendant and the charges against you are you're a Christian, would the prosecutor be able to prosecute? Is there enough evidence that shows that you're a Christian? If I looked at your spending, what would that tell me?

If I looked at your habits, if I looked at your entertainment, your screen time, if I looked at those things, would the evidence be that you are a Christian? Well, in this case, you go to court with Demetrius. You're there watching the courtroom. Demetrius, are you a Christian? Demetrius says yes.

Prove it. Read the Bible and tell me what you see. Okay, I'm reading the Bible, Demetrius, and you know what I see? I see you. I see you.

The Bible is describing you. It blows me away, the thought that not only that's in the Bible, but that I'm now suggesting to you that that should be all of our desire to have that kind of testimony that everybody we know would say, we are God's kind of person. We're approved by God. We live the word of God as a Christian, somebody who's been born again and regenerate and now saved by the blood of Christ. And now that I'm a Christian and a new creature in Christ, I'm now living this new life, that my life would be such that from that day forward, in that new journey that I'm on, where I follow Christ instead of myself, where I am now one of God's people, that it would be said of me at any point in my life, if you open the Bible, you're going to see Johnny.

If you open the Bible, you're going to see Zach. Now, I'm not telling you that we are the main character of the Bible. I'm not saying that, that you should be looking for you in the Bible. No, no, no. You should be looking at the truth and to see if you're walking in the truth.

We're not the main character. I'm not trying to say that the Bible is pointing to me. No, I'm just trying to say when you see people acting, what is their operating software, what program are they living out in their life? Is it evident from their life that they are truth people? Are they showing what their behavior with their words, with their lives, with their desires, are they living it in such a way that you would say there's no choice but to draw the conclusion that is a Christian, that person loves Jesus.

We try to get him to joke about Jesus, he won't. We try to get him to deny Jesus, he won't. We try to get him to do something other than go to worship him on Sundays, he won't. We try to get him to follow this thing over here and he won't. Man, every time you talk to that guy Jesus, I think if you cut him, he would bleed.

Bible, that's what Demetrius was. And as though that weren't enough, you want some icing for your cake? Could you do better than having the truth itself say that you are God's approved kind of person that God would say, I approve of this message like the politicians do, that you are living the testimony. You're living. Verse 12, the last part.

And we also bear witness, as though John is saying, as if that weren't enough, that everybody that knows him says, he's God's kind of man, he follows God, he lives for the Lord, he walks consistently with God's requirements, the truth itself, the actual requirements themselves. Say he is walking in a consistent and obviously Christian way, right? And then now he says, and if that weren't enough, I know him too. And he is indeed everything I'm saying, he is me, the apostle. Do you see?

It says we also bear witness testimony. There's our language again. Testimony, legal testimony, all those like, I'm sure you know this, but when you hear that kind of language, like the most common passage for correction that I use in this understanding is the two or three are gathered passage where everybody says wherever two or more are gathered, that passage is so abused. That passage is not a promise, it's a threat. That passage is in a discipline context, right?

So the idea is if somebody is walking disorderly, you have to challenge them first one on one. If it's an offense, secondly, take witnesses with you so that there could be two or more witnesses. And then finally, if they won't listen to the two or three witnesses, you tell it to the church. And, and if you keep reading that text, the very next thing it says is because where two or more are gathered, I'm in the midst. The idea there is, if you are about to tell somebody in a church that they are not walking obedient and they're not acting like sheep, and you're about to excommunicate them because they're walking in disobedience and vote on them as a church, I need you to know you witnesses, I'm there.

And you better do that right, because we were saying that person is one of my sheep. And now if you, my church are going to say they're not a sheep, I'm there. And you need to know that that's what two or three means. And now I'm telling you that means that here too, that whenever you see this language of witness or testimony, it is always in the courtroom of heaven. It is always with God as our witness.

Always. There's no version of a testimony or a witness that isn't before the Almighty. And now John is saying, I'm putting my reputation as an apostle of Jesus Christ on the line for this man Demetrius. I am telling you with my own understanding of him and his work and what he is, I am saying, you might say on a stack of Bibles, you hear anybody say that you only need one. By the way, it's essentially John putting his own hand on the word of God and saying, I'm bearing witness too.

I testify before God. Demetrius has walked consistently with the gospel. He has a good testimony from everybody that knows him from the very truth itself. And now the apostle is saying, and me too. I am saying he is God's kind of person and it also is plural.

So the we there could be the apostles exclusively. Like maybe John is representing the royal we of the apostles there, saying, me and the other apostles are saying that he is, we bear witness to him. Or he's saying the church planters the early missionaries, the first century church planting missionaries that are going around. That's what I think it is. The people that were starting churches and then fortifying those churches.

And what we learned from this text is that Demetrius is pretty much the opposite of Diotrephes. You can just go back and look at Diotrephes in those previous verses and everything Demetrius is, is opposite. So instead of prating against the apostles, the apostles approve of him. Instead of hurting God's people, all the people think he's great and give testimony of him. So you have a beautiful blessing.

Black and white contrast there. Villain and good guy contrast with Diotrephes and Demetrius. And you should go maybe with your kids this week and just go through and sit down with your kids and go through that and say, let's look at these two guys and see if there's something we can learn from both what not to do and what we can be and what we should do. Really easy, simple, beautiful applications can be made from that there. Well, I'll lead with this or I'm not lead.

Leave you this point with this. And I hope it's okay that I say this. I did it last time and I always feel a little iffy. Usually people don't know when they're preaching a bias or an opinion. Most people think their opinions are fact.

I'm sorry to say that you probably think that too, that our opinions are fact. Like it is a fact that nobody should like broccoli, right? No, that's my opinion. But there are times where you might not see the line between an opinion you're drawing and the actual fact. So what I'm going to tell you right now is this is my opinion and I know it's my opinion, but I am going to give it anyway because I feel like there might be some pastoral application I can make here, which is I said it last time that when Diotrephes was denying the apostle, I emphasized there that any everybody should be worried if they're denying apostles teaching.

So I was applying the negative of Diotrephes to us that if we hear the apostle preach John and we say, I don't have to listen to him, I don't like his style, I don't like what he's saying. That's what Diotrephes was doing then we're acting like Diotrephes with the apostle. And so I'm saying here, now on the other side of that positively, that when Demetrius has a good testimony from the apostles, I'm applying that now in a PJ way, a Pastor Johnny way. And I, it is not, I don't. The text isn't making us think this.

I'm just using it as an application to say to you that you should want a good testimony from a person like John the apostle. And the way you would get that testimony is to live John's words. You want to know if John likes you. Do everything that John says to do, then you'll know. If I'm listening to the words of John that are inspired scripture and I'm living the Gospel of John and I'm living the epistles of John and I'm thinking of the future according to the revelation of John, I can know that if I'm consistent with those things that it says, then I'm alright with the Lord.

At least from John's perspective. Right? So that's how you can get a good opinion from John. Just read John and then live John's words. Now obviously they're the Spirit's words, they're not John's.

But I am trying to say that, that John is writing here about Demetrius and in a letter. And the letter itself is also part of the truth. And I would say that we can live the truth. We can live it and we can say that if I live the things consistently that I see in scripture. Think of when Peter talks about Paul, which is awesome.

When Peter says that Paul's writings are difficult for some people to understand, right? But then he says, but they struggle and they manipulate it as they do with all the scriptures. The reason I bring that up is because Peter is affirming Paul's writings in that letter and he's calling them scripture and he's saying that people twist those scriptures to destruction, right? He's saying that people are manipulating the words of Paul instead of following the words of Paul. And Peter would say the same thing of Peter and now I'm saying John and would say the same thing of John.

If you want to know the kind of people I approve of, like Demetrius, just go live the word of Christ and you'll be the kind of people that are approved of. And then you can in that sense say you have test a good testimony from John from the truth and he amplifies it and you know our testimony is true. Why would he have to say that? Why would John say that? Isn't it redundant, isn't it redundant that John would say to the audience, to Gaius and the church that's listening in and us, that John is.

It's a really strange thing to say, and you know it's true. Have you ever heard anybody say, in all honesty, do you need to say that? I'm serious. Did you need to say you're serious? I promise.

Did you need to say you promised? Is your word not good enough, that you have to qualify it as no, really, I'm serious. I do that too. By the way, everything I'm telling you, I do all the time. But I do want you to see that when he says, and you know that our testimony is true, why is it repeated?

Why is he saying, he already said, we testify of him, we approve of him, just like the truth does, just like everybody else does. Why would he say it's true? I'm suggesting to you, this is that part. That's like an oath. This is that part in the courtroom of heaven, you know our testimony is true.

Again, that's Bible language, law language, Old Testament language, two or three witnesses language, the testimony, you know, you people know. Now the two or three are you people and us people. There are two witnesses to this man's integrity and his character. You know our testimony is true. You testify.

We testify and we testify that each other testifies. So I'm affirming your testimony. You're affirming our testimony. This is all. Imagine going to court.

Imagine going to court. You're being accused of being a Christian, and you're hoping to be a Christian right here. You're being accused, not wanting to get out, of being a Christian. You're going to the courtroom of heaven, and the charges are, is this man a Christian? And you're hoping, you.

You're hoping that there's enough of a case against you that the Almighty says, of course they're a Christian. Those are my people. And now you see these kind of people come in and surround you and say, lord, he's obviously a Christian. Everybody that knows him, everybody he ministers with, around the church and the community and the other churches, they all say, he is a truth walker. He is a person of Christ.

They all say it. Not only do they say it, when we open the testimony itself, the truth itself, we read through Psalm 119. We read through the words of Christ. When we see the word here in front of us, and we compare what that should look like in the lives of a person. Demetrius, he is clearly living it.

Let me tell you what Demetrius does with his life. Your honor, let me tell you the kinds of things he does. He does this with his family. He does this with his church. He does this in his community.

He tells the truth. He has integrity. He doesn't compromise. He loves his wife, he's faithful. All of those things your word says a man should be.

Demetrius is living. Not only that, Lord, but we, the apostles and the church planters, we also say the same thing. And now I am saying to you, your honor, you all know, we agree that this guy is who he says he is and who God says he is. We all agree. So what's the verdict?

Christian Christ, like God's kind of person, approved by God, blessed by God, honored by God. I don't know. You all know this. We've talked about it over and over again. Pastor has said that.

He keeps talking about being at the end of his life, but he's not done yet. That he wants on his tombstone the servant of the Lord, because that was on Moses tombstone. That's the thing. He wants to be known about himself. A servant of the Lord.

And you all know when we think about heaven, how many of you have it in your head the thought that the Lord would say, well done. Isn't that an appealing thought to you? Does that ever. Do you ever lose sight of that? That the.

The best thing you could ever hear, the most comforting, encouraging, heartening thing you could ever hear is the Almighty to look you in the eye and say, well done, thou good and faithful servant. Well, one person I know that is true of is named Demetrius. That is true of him. He's in heaven now. I can't wait to talk to him.

What's that like to be in the Bible and to have John the apostle say those things about everybody and what they said of you? I imagine Demetrius is going to say he's going to point to the Lord. Sounds like the kind of guy he would be. You're giving the wrong person credit. The Lord did that.

I was what I was because of the Lord. I was what I was because of his grace. Any good thing I ever did was because he fueled me with his grace, because he indwelled me with his spirit, because he gave me a love for his word. Don't give me credit for anything. I'm just a servant of the Lord.

That's what Demetrius would do. I think so this is a. Two or three are gathered language in my mind. The end of verse 12 there. Well, there's quite a few examples of good people to follow in the Bible.

But man, we don't sing dare to be a Demetrius and maybe we should. He's God's kind of guy. I'm going to suggest to you that he was Christ like, that he had a good testimony from everyone in the truth itself and that he followed the Lord to the point where that was how he was identified. I always find it odd, even after all these years, when people ask somebody, what do you do? What is usually the answer to that question.

If somebody asks you, what do you do? What do most people answer their job? Maybe the people in this room will get asked that question and they'll say, live for the Lord. Oh, you mean what do I do for a living? I'll tell you what that is too.

But if you ask me what I do, I live the truth. I live for Christ. Because I think that's the kind of person Demetrius was. The author of Hebrews says to not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. Demetrius is one of those guys.

Imitate Demetrius. I think that's a safe thing to say. And Demetrius again, if he were here, he would say, hey, what are you talking about? Why are you putting my name in there? Then I would tell Demetrius, hey, we all know you would give God the credit.

We all know that you would point everybody to the Lord and we are saying to imitate you like Paul says, as you imitate Christ, right? What a great example of somebody that has obviously lived the life that God called him to live. And it is, I think, a simple bridge. Now, as we wrap this service up, the deacons get prepared to come forward where we do the self examination of communion time and ask if we are like Demetrius, that when we go to communion and we examine ourselves and we see where we're at in our walk and in our faithfulness, that we have a wonderful example of somebody who would happily take communion every time it was given. He walks with the Lord, he's faithful.

He doesn't have problems with his brothers or sisters. He doesn't have problems with hidden sin, he doesn't have problems with disobedience in his life. This is a guy that would rush to the communion table, right, Demetrius? So if we're going to be like him, how about we rush to the communion table and have fellowship with the Lord and with each other? I'll explain all that when we get into the communion time.

Let's pray, Father. Now, as we close this service and we go into communion, I would just ask that we would indeed be mindful. The mistake can be made that we think that Christianity is acting right, maybe acting like Demetrius. But the truth is Demetrius was changed in his heart. He was saved, he was changed by grace.

And everything we see in this text is about that grace lived out in his life. And I'd ask, Father, that as we go into the communion time, if there's anybody here, even now, who's listening to my voice and has never made a commitment to Christ, who have never turned from their sin and received the forgiveness found in Christ, have the truth implanted in them, the Word in their heart, that maybe that might even happen now as we go into the communion time. And for the rest of us, Father, as we think of Demetrius testimony, we want to have the same kind of testimony. And oh, communion is a great test. It's a great way to examine ourselves.

So would you use it for that purpose as we seek to glorify you in Jesus name, Amen.