3 John 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. 
	We spent almost a year dealing with the Biblical doctrines of hell and heaven. Lord willing, we came to a greater and more intense and richer understanding of what God’s heart is concerning these aspects of His creation. It all comes down to the fact that everything was created to show forth His glory through the redemptive work of His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ.
	 As well, we have continued in our guidance to read His Word together as a fellowship. In following these studies, our readings have brought us to our text this morning in the third letter of the Apostle John. It is very appropriate that we begin again in our studies with the passage that is before us. It corresponds to the heart of the matter of heaven and hell that we have just completed, as we will see, Lord willing.
	The Apostle John is writing an admonition that we need to take to heart in our lives as we seek to please God and to prepare ourselves for the heavenly ages that await us in Jesus Christ. This has been a challenge to me, because this is a command in the Word of God that is so fully agreeable to our spirits, yet so disagreeable to our flesh. Of course all the commandments of God fall into this pattern, so this should not be a surprise. Yet, when I examine myself before God, I find that I am not able to reconcile as clearly and as concisely and as certainly the truth of what is entailed in this warning for our Christian behavior on this earth.
	Let us examine, for a few moments, this aspect of the fact that we need to obey wholeheartedly and unequivocally the command, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The manner in which we conduct our lives under this reality is of paramount importance in the testimony of Christ that we live before others. This is key to whether or not we have a true knowledge of the saving grace of God. 
Before we go any farther, I am not setting forth a doctrine of salvation by works. We are fully and absolutely saved by the grace of God. However, as that grace works in us, our lives are to be brought into conformity with the life of Jesus Christ. The manner in which we live our lives on this earth should be more and more reflective of the One Who now lives His life in us. 
As we have read over and over again and been encouraged in the walk that we have on this earth, Rom 8:28-30 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren; and whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. We have been …predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son… We know that we will not be perfect in this at this time. This reality will be absolutely and completely in place in heaven, but it should be working in us now. There should be, the desire to please God, actively welling up in our hearts and minds at this time. We should be sensing the displeasure of the Holy Spirit if we disobey and if we succumb to those temptations that we know are not right in our lives. As we love God, as we have been called by Him, as He has saved us, so ought there to be a registration within us when we disappoint Him. 
	The Apostle Paul goes even further as he relates in Rom 12:1+2, I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. There is no doubt that we are to live lives that are wholly unto the glory of God even at this time. We are not to be conformed to this world, but conformed to Christ in every aspect of our lives.
	The Apostle Peter also addresses this issue in 1 Peter 1:13-16 Therefore, gird your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy." We are to be holy as He is holy. 
Yes, the truth of Heaven is raised before us in the ultimate perfection of the holiness of Jesus Christ, but the life that we are now living is to be as holy in our hearts and thoughts and deeds as can be pleasing to God. Each of these Apostles, Paul, John, and Peter are writing the same encouragement of not imitating the evil of this age, but rather to live in accordance with the plan and purpose of God in every respect and aspect of our current lives on this earth. This is not a salvation by works but the working out of the salvation of God’s grace in our lives.
	Therefore, in what measure do we find ourselves in this ordered life of Christ in not imitating the evil that surrounds us? The Word of God is very specific as to what is expected from us in our dealings of righteousness before God and before man. We know the commandments that are set before us as given to Moses by God on Mount Sinai. Those are not just the words of how we should act on this earth, but the promise of who we will become perfectly in heaven, as we have considered recently. They strike a cord in our hearts with regard to what we would like to do on a most consistent level in our lives. They hold forth the ideal after which we are to set in our desires of pleasing God. Yet, we fall short, so often in terms of our attitudes and our thoughts. While we would never consciously commit a murder, we often think so ill of someone that we wish they were dead. That is a murder’s heart that strikes against the fabric of who we are in Christ.
	As well, consider Ex 23:1-3. "You shall not bear a false report; do not join your hand with a wicked man to be a malicious witness. You shall not follow a multitude in doing evil, nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after a multitude in order to pervert justice; nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his dispute. How many times do we find ourselves telling lies because we feel it will benefit us? How many times do we try to protect ourselves by stretching the truth and pushing the limits of our perceptions of what might be the case in order to cover up and to place a barrier of plausibility around us?  We tend to fit ourselves into a perceived pattern of thought in dealing with others, rather than taking the truthful stand even when we could suffer as a result. 
Consider our attitude in the midst of times of having to bear witness for or against someone. Is our testimony prejudiced by the pressures of what the crowd wants us to say? Are we slanted in our wording of testimony based on how it will make us look? Do we go along with the common beliefs even when we know that they are not the correct manner of our consideration of others?
	This also comes face to face with the manner of our behavior. How do we respond when we are faced with those practices that are common and accepted in this world, yet go against what we know will please God? Do we rationalize our behavior by the virtues of this age? We know what we should do, we know how God stands on the morays of this realm, yet we feel that it is ok to do just as the world does because we are part of the world as well as being a Christian. We base our behavior and our beliefs on trying to meet the standards of God to the best of our ability while enjoying the commonality of the behavior of our society. 
Brother James is very forthright in his declaration against such behavior. James 4:4, You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. We are to live our lives in separation from the vile, yet accepted practices of this age. We are to be in complete submission to the Word of God and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. That will put us in absolute opposition to many of the commonly accepted practices of this age, the things that this world tries to foist upon us as of great consequence or concern.
	The Apostle Paul warns us against such deceptive lies in Col 2:8. See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. We are to be on constant guard against those elements of this time frame which try to encourage us to live according to the standards of a society which is in complete opposition to the Lord. The world uses every avenue of persuasion to capture our attention and obedience. It tells us that the Bible is no longer relevant to our time. It boisterously proclaims that those things which were once considered as sin are no longer sin in the enlightened mindset of this time. Fidelity and virtue are no longer to be held as honorable, but as horribly misguided repressions of the good person that is trying to come forth from within us.  
	The Apostle John is very specific and vocal in his admonition against giving into the commonality of the philosophy and moral decay of this age. 1 John 2:15-17, Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God abides forever. 
The simple fact is that we really are to live lives that are not influenced by this realm, even though we are surrounded by this world order. We are to be the vibrant and true testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ Who overcame this world and all its moral depravity. John 16:33, "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world." 
	Consider what we read in Rom 12:21. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. This is the manner in which we are to deal with the present evil of this age. This is critical for every member of the Body of Jesus Christ, but my heart is expressly grieving for the young of our fellowship. They are facing things and influences and philosophies and teachings and moral decay far beyond any scope of our current knowledge and understanding. It is imperative that we are influences for righteousness for their sake as well as for our own sake. None of us are beyond the scope of this age’s efforts to minimize and to dilute our testimony of Jesus Christ. That is why we must present them with the constant and consistent manner of living that is completely and faithfully in line with the Word of God, despite what this world advocates as needful and necessary to survive.
	Deut 12:28-31, Be careful to listen to all these words which I command you, in order that it may be well with you and your sons after you forever, for you will be doing what is good and right in the sight of the Lord  your God. "When the Lord  your God cuts off before you the nations which you are going in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land, beware that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying,' How do these nations serve their gods, that I also may do likewise?' "You shall not behave thus toward the Lord your God, for every abominable act which the Lord hates they have done for their gods; for they even burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods. We are urged to not give into the ways of this world for the very sake of our children. We are to keep ourselves from the evil that is presented as modern and current modes of behavior and thought. The manner of this world should absolutely ring false in our hearts and minds and should be considered as unpalatable to our every sensibility. 
	We have the heartrending example of Israel, God’s Chosen people, who turned their back to the Lord and gave themselves over to the practices of the nations surrounding them. 2 Kings 17:15-17, And they rejected His statutes and His covenant which He made with their fathers, and His warnings with which He warned them. And they followed vanity and became vain, and went after the nations which surrounded them, concerning which the Lord had commanded them not to do like them. And they forsook all the commandments of the Lord their God and made for themselves molten images, even two calves, and made an Asherah and worshiped all the host of heaven and served Baal. Then they made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire, and practiced divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him. 
	We must be very, very careful to guard our hearts and minds before the Lord and to not allow ourselves to become entangled with the affairs of this realm. We must continually scrutinize our hearts lest we begin to embrace the concepts of evil in our hearts and minds as necessary for survival in this age. What this world portrays as good and right must always be measured against the standard of Jesus Christ. This is so increasingly imperative in the measure of our accountability to God for the way in which our daily activities and behavior are considered in the light of His holiness. 
Again we are encouraged by God through the writing of the Apostle Peter to …be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy." This is not an option or choice. It is the life into which we are called through the precious blood of Jesus Christ. To set aside this command to not imitate evil is to set aside the perfect work of Him Who saved us. It is nothing less than a complete and deliberate denial of Jesus Christ Our Lord and Savior. Do not kid ourselves, or allow the arguments of this age to minimize the absolute necessity and severity of this holy work of God. Our obedience to His Holy nature is the very measure of the value that we hold for Jesus Christ in our hearts and minds and souls. So be it!
	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. Amen.

This morning’s benediction is Jude 2, May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you. Amen.