The Truth In Gaius

 

The Truth In Gaius

 

III John 1:3-4

 

For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.

 

This epistle of the Apostle John is indeed very short, but it is certainly not lacking in content, and instruction for the people of God who still have their residence in this present evil world (Galatians 1:4). Truth is a prevalent theme in this epistle. (1.) The Apostle says, that the well-beloved Gaius is one whom he loved in truth. (2.) The Apostle wished for the health and prosperity of Gaius, even as his soul prospered. (3.) The brethren had testified that the truth dwelt in the well-beloved Gaius. (4.)  That Gaius walked in the truth. (5.) The Apostle’s greatest joy was to hear that his children walk in truth.

 

There are some things that we know of the Apostle’s well-beloved Gaius. We know that in himself he was a child of wrath even as others (Ephesians 2:4). His salvation was completely from a source which had nothing to do with his works or merit of the person of this man Gaius (Ephesians 2:9) for “(for by grace are ye saved;)” (Ephesians 2:5; Titus 3:5; II Timothy 1:9). Gaius was a sinner as long as he dwelt in his tabernacle of flesh (Romans 7:18,23). And therefore could not be justified in the sight of God by anything that had its source in himself. This brings questions to the mind, which beg to be answered. (1.) How came the truth to dwell in Gaius? (2.) What is meant that Gaius “walkest in the truth”? (3.) Why did Gaius walk in the truth? Oh, Spirit of Truth, if you will, you are able to satisfy our understandings concerning these questions. If for Christ’s sake you are pleased to do so and if you will, because you are the Great Teacher of the New Covenant, in wonderful grace and unspeakable mercy please incline the heart both of writer and of reader, to a full satisfaction concerning these questions with the full assurance of understanding. A-men.

 

(1.) How came the truth to dwell in Gaius? The Spirit of Truth must be in the children of the covenant of God to give them a hearing ear. The gift of a spiritually living ear is in order that they may hear, understand, and believe the truth of the gospel. As it is written again and again in the scriptures: “Who hath ears to hear, let him hear” (Matthew 11:15; 13:9, 13:43; Mark 4:9; 4:23; 7:16; Luke 8:8; 14:35; Revelation 2:7, 11, 29; 3:6, 13, 22; 13:9 ). The importance of this principle cannot be overstated and it may be realized to some extent when we consider how often our Lord Jesus used the expression. Approximately sixteen times in the New Testament is: “he that hath an ear let him hear” repeated, therefore it is of the great importance. Spiritually dead persons, cannot hear what the Spirit sayeth to the churches.

 

Our Lord Jesus quickeneth whom He will (John 5:21). Our Lord Jesus gives eternal life to all the children of covenant at the time appointed in the covenant, and does this by giving them the Holy Ghost, as a “Spirit of Life” (Revelation 11:11), through the written word of life (Philippians 2:16; I Peter 1:23; James 1:18). Christ Jesus is the “Word of life” (I John 1:3), He gives His Spirit to whomsoever He will, that is the “Spirit of life from God” who enters into those for whom the Great High Priest of the everlasting covenant of grace intercedes, for: “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25). It is only the spiritually living that “come to God by him”. The spiritually dead cannot hear His word.

 

Our Lord told the Pharisees: “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not” (John 8:44-45). There is no truth in Satan, he is a liar and the father of it, so that all deception comes ultimately from him, who is the father of lies. Those who receive not “the love of the truth” show themselves to be aligned with Satan as it is written: “And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth (restrains or hinders: writer) will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (II Thessalonians 2:7-12).

 

Love of truth is the natural state of those who are indwelt by the Spirit of truth, whom the world of the ungodly cannot receive (John 14:17). Where the Spirit of truth makes His abode, the truth is in the heart of the person thus indwelt, and in them the truth in the heart, answers to the truth in the ear, when it is heard. That person indwelt by the Spirit of truth will know the truth when he hears the truth concerning Christ Jesus. The persons who are not possessed of the Spirit of the truth, have no ear for the truth. Therefore when they hear the truth they despise it, as a thing foreign to them, and opposed to them. When they hear the truth of the gospel of God’s free and sovereign grace in Christ Jesus, it is to them a strange and unwelcome sound. But to whom the Spirit of truth has given a heart of love of the truth, the gospel is a joyful sound, as it is written: “Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance” (Psalm 89:15).

 

All the children of Adam are children of wrath as they are born into this world (Ephesians 2:3).  In their individual persons, all the children of men fell in Adam into moral corruption, and spiritual death and are given up to vanity, as it is written: “Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah” (Psalm 39:5) “Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken thou me in thy way” (Psalm 119:37). “Rid me, and deliver me from the hand of strange children, whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood” (Psalm 144:11). “None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity” (Isaiah 59:4). Add to this the indictment of Romans 3:10-19.  In their innate state the children of men have no love of the truth, but man in his best state in nature is altogether vain, and is given up to vanities because of the innate depravity of the heart of man “ As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God” (Romans 3:10-11). “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)” (Ephesians 2:4-5).

 

But all hope is not lost because God is faithful who has promised: “Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them” (Ezekiel 36:25-27). Twice in this scripture God has promised “I will put my spirit within you”. In whom God puts His Spirit, there will invariably and infallibly be the fruit of the Spirit, as it is written: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23). In the order of nature the Spirit comes first and then the fruit of the Spirit. Actually they come together so where the Spirit of God is there is also the fruit of the Spirit of God.

 

God puts His Spirit in whomsoever He will, as said the prophet: “And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou” (Daniel 4:35)? God puts His Spirit in whomsoever He will and that Spirit is uninvited, not sought after, not according to the desires of the recipient of His Spirit, as it is written: “ Esaias (Isaiah 65:1, writer) is very bold, and saith, I was found of them that sought me not; I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me” (Romans 10:20).

 

In those in whom God puts His Spirit, the Spirit is to them the Spirit of life (Romans 8:2) as well as the Spirit of truth (John 14:17), and the fruit of the Spirit cannot be separated from Him who is the source of the fruit. Therefore in whomsoever the Spirit of God is put, in them God puts His truth, and so as the Apostle John said: “For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth”. God puts His Spirit of truth ,in whosoever He will, and it is the will of God that all the children of God know Him, as their God and Father, as it is written: “Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God” (John 20:17). And the way to this knowledge is by revelation of the Spirit of God (Matthew 16:17; John 14:9): “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (II Corinthians 4:6). Those who are of God hear God’s word, because they are indwelt by the Spirit of God from the birth of the Spirit, as it is written: “He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God” (John 8:47; 10:26).

 

It is God who makes His chosen people willing in the day of His power, as it is written: “Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth” (Psalm 110:3). Therefore in the New Testament the call is “whosoever will” let him take the water of life freely: “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Revelation 22:17). Only those who are of God, by His free electing mercies will thirst after the water of life, which is Jesus Christ and His righteousness. For God puts the truth in them in the Spirit of truth, whom this world cannot receive. Therefore preachers of the free and sovereign grace of God in Christ Jesus, through His electing grace, and predestinating mercies declare very boldly: “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Revelation 22:17).

 

The second question is: What is meant, by the expression, Gaius walkest in the truth? The following verse begins to answer the question. “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (I John 1:7). Those who walk in the light, live their lives in the certain knowledge of salvation by Jesus Christ alone. Simply resting in Jesus Christ’s finished salvation for His redeemed children of the covenant is walking in the light. It is not walking in our best efforts to satisfy the demands of the holiness of God, it is trusting that God is completely satisfied with us who are given the faith of God’s elect in Christ Jesus. Those who spend their lives trusting Christ, are freely justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses (Acts 13:39). To walk in the truth is to walk in the light in Jesus Christ, it is to live in the light of the gospel, in the certain knowledge that Jesus Christ is the salvation of His people being “THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS” (Jeremiah 23:6).

 

 Jesus Christ is the only spiritual light in this world of darkness. The darkness of this world is not only the ignorance of this world concerning the truth of God, but it is also the stubborn opposition, and obdurate hostility of the world to God in Christ. This rebellion of the inhabitants of this world is broken when God takes away the hard and stony heart and gives a heart of flesh, which can receive the impression of the image of God in Jesus Christ, being predestinated thereunto. Gaius walked in truth as he lived in this world in the belief of the doctrine of Christ, which is the gospel of Jesus Christ. To walk in the truth is to walk or live in this world knowing that believers are faultless before the throne of God in Jesus Christ (Revelation 14:5; Jeremiah 50:20). It is to rest in Jesus Christ knowing that according to His promise, God will remember believers sins no more, as it is written: “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: and they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more” (Hebrews 8:10-12). Again it is written: “Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back” (Isaiah 38:17), and again: “He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:19), and again: “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12). Therefore to weary travelers through this world’s wilderness, the Spirit of truth, by the Apostle Paul says: “And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ” (II Thessalonians 1:7-8).

 

(3.) The third question to consider is: why did Gaius walk in the truth? Gaius walked in the truth because of love of the truth, and because of the joy in walking in the truth. It was no slavish duty, no bondage sponsored by threat of law, that prompted this man’s joyful obedience. But it was love of God, whose glory is seen and known in the face of Jesus Christ (II Corinthians 4:6). Gaius loved the doctrine of Christ (II John 1:9-11). And Gaius loved the brethren in Christ. Gaius loved Christ who is known through the knowledge of the doctrine of Christ. As it is written: “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him” (II John 4:16). “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God” (I John4:7). “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (I John 4:10). And we know that “We love him, because he first loved us” (I John 4:19).

 

Knowledge of the love of God for those He chose in Christ from eternity past, brings great joy to the heart of those who are the chosen of God. The true Israel of God (Galatians 6:16), true to the type of Israel after the flesh, is a chosen nation, as it is written: “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (I Peter 2:9). “Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory” (I Peter 1:8). “The joy of the LORD is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10).

 

“He that is of God heareth God’s word” (John 8:47). Those in whom God puts His Spirit (Ezekiel 36:26-27), receive the Spirit as the Spirit of truth (John14:17), a Spirit of life (Romans 8:2; Revelation 11:11), a Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:17). We who believe “have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together” (Romans 8: 15-17). Those who are of God, through covenant interest in Jesus Christ, hear the truth of God because of the Spirit of truth in them. The Spirit of truth bears witness to the truth when it is preached in the hearing of the children of the covenant. Therefore men of the world do not hear the truth because there is no truth in them (John 8:44-45) Those who believe the truth of the gospel do so because they are, and have always been the children of God, in whom God puts His Spirit, the Spirit of truth, who bears witness in the heart to the sound of truth in the ear of children of God, therefore, “WHO HATH EARS TO HEAR, LET HIM HEAR” (Matthew 13:9).   

AJ Ison

 

See the writers blog at www.hebrews915.blogspot.com hear the truth preached at www.13thstbaptist.org webcasting live at listed service times.