EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/10/2025 9:25 PM
My Worship Time
Focus: PT-2
“Demetrius’ Commendable Contrast”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 3 John 11-15
Message of the verses: “11 Beloved, do
not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God;
the one who does evil has not seen God.12 Demetrius has received a good
testimony from everyone, and from the truth itself; and we add our testimony,
and you know that our testimony is true. 13 I had many things to write to you,
but I am not willing to write them to you with pen and ink; 14 but I
hope to see you shortly, and we will speak face to face. (1:15) Peace be
to you. The friends greet you. Greet the friends by name.”
I mentioned in my last SD on 3 John that tonight’s
SD will be the last one on 3 John, and also mentioned that I did not know when
the commentary for Johan and Nahum would get here so that I would be able to
use it in these evening Spiritual Diaries.
I also mentioned that I would be looking at Jude to fill in until the
book got here. This morning the book did
arrive, but I think that it would be best that I do what I said I would do and
go over the book of Jude until I get that letter done. I was listening to one of 15 sermons that
John MacArthur has on the book of Jude, and was surprised that there were that
many sermons on this one chapter book of the Bible. My thoughts are that I will listen to what he
has on Jude but mostly rely on Dr. Warren Wiersbe’s commentary on Jude. Many of you may know that in Dr. Wiersbe’s
commentaries that he has written on every book of the Bible are what he calls “Be
Books,” and the Be Book for Jude is entitled “Be Alert.” Looking forward to read through this Be Book
on Jude as it has been a while since I read things from Dr. Wiersbe, the man
who it is said that “he puts the cookies on the table where you can reach them,”
and so we will be looking at some of those “cookies” that he has made for the
book of Jude.
John
MacArthur concludes his commentary on 3 John by writing: “Nothing is known apart from this verse on
the Demetrius whom John commended. He
may have delivered this letter from John to Gaius. That he was a man of noble Christian character
is evident from three sources. First, he
had received a good testimony from everyone.
His reputation was well known among the Christian community in that
region. Second, Demetrius was committed
to living testimony—which Gaius knew to be true—to commend Demetrius’
character. The example of Demetrius
shows that a man’s worth can be measured by his reputation in the community,
his faithfulness to the truth of Scripture, and the opinion godly Christian
leaders have of him. Demetrius received
high marks on all counts.
“The
conclusion of this epistle closely parallels that of 2 John, John wrote, I had
many things to write to you, but I am not willing to write them to you with pen
and ink; but I hope to see you shortly, and we will speak face to face. In both epistles John had much more to say to
those to whom he wrote, but he preferred to do so with pen and ink, but face to
face.
“The apostle’s farewell wish, peace be to you, was
an appropriate one for that strife-torn congregation. Gaius and John evidently had mutual friends who
asked John to greet Gaius for them. John
also asked Gaius to greet some other mutual friends who were with him. The
phrase by name adds a personal, intimate touch.
Though well into his nineties, John still cherished those to whom he had
ministered throughout his life.
“Without
question, the concept of the truth stands out in this brief letter. First, believers must know the truth and obey
it (v. 3). Second, they are to be
hospitable to other faithful believers, who preach the truth (vv. 6-8). Finally, they are to pattern their lives
after godly examples who live in the truth (v. 11; cf. Heb. 13:7). Where the truth prevails, the Lord is
glorified in His church.”
I
happened to listen to the first sermon that MacArthur did on Jude this
afternoon, and he mentioned that word truth a number of times in that sermon.
We
begin Jude in tomorrow’s evening SD, Lord willing.
6/10/2025 9:50 PM
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