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The Daily Word of Righteousness
The Sons of the Kingdom, #24
I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not. 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. (III John 1:10)
Diotrophes.
Can you imagine Diotrephes resisting the Apostle John? Diotrephes was a member of a church. He was, however a tare. He was not a son of the Kingdom but of the wicked one. How do we know this? Because he loved to be preeminent among the believers.
How many times has a true man of God been denied opportunity to minister because of those who insist on being chief among the brothers? One may ask, "Why would a son of Satan desire to be a member of a congregation of believers? With all the interesting and profitable things to do in the world, why do the sons of the enemy desire to exercise their selfish ambitions among the Lord's people?"
Was Diotrephes called of the Lord to be a saint? How about your congregation? Are there self-willed people in it? Are they sons of the wicked one? Do they continually frustrate the moving of the Holy Spirit? Are you willing to withdraw from them and avoid them? Days of shaking are upon us. You will be forced to choose between your self-willed friends and the Lord Jesus. Which decision will you make?
Jude speaks of the tares among the wheat and their judgment at the hands of the sons of the Kingdom.
For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness [immorality], and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. (Jude 1:4)
Wherever there are wheat there are tares. They slip secretly into the assembly and appear to be earnest Christians.
Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core. (Jude 1:11)
The tares can be identified by their similarity to Cain. They hate their brothers and sisters whom the Lord blesses. They cannot understand why the Lord does not bless them in the same manner. The truth is, they are not serving God by faith. They are not worshiping God in their heart.
Like Balaam they are willing to prophesy for money. Money is important to the tares and the love of money will finally lead them to fight against the Lord's chosen.
The tares never will submit to authority. They must be preeminent in the assembly. The lust for importance will cause them to complain and rebel against those in charge of the assembly. They will carry along with them the naive and unsuspecting.
In the Day of the Lord the Lord will return with the true saints and bring judgment on those of the assembly who actually were tares.
And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these [the tares in the assemblies], saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. (Jude 1:14,15)
To be continued.