All good people like to see others walking in truth, as well as
trodden by many little feet before your own. Thousands of boys and girls are walking in truth at this moment—and there is yet room. Dear children, think this night, "Why should I not walk in the truth?"
II. And now I will go on to the second thing I promised to speak of. I said I would try to show you some of the reasons why John rejoiced to find this lady's children walking in truth. Let me set about it. The text says, "I rejoiced greatly." Now, why did he rejoice? There must have been some good reasons. John was not a man to rejoice without cause. Listen, dear children, and you shall hear what those reasons were.
1. For one thing, John rejoiced became he was a good man himself.
All good people like to see others walking in truth, as well as themselves. I dare say you have heard how the angels in Heaven rejoice when they see one sinner repenting. Some of you, no doubt, have read it in the fifteenth chapter of Luke. Well, good people are like the angels in this—they are full of love and compassion, and when they see anyone turning away from sin, and doing what is right —it makes them feel happy.
Good people find walking in truth so pleasant, that they would like everybody else to walk in truth too. They do not wish to keep all this pleasantness to themselves, and to go to Heaven alone. They want to see all around them loving Jesus Christ, and obeying Him—all their relations, all their neighbors, all their old friends, all their young ones, indeed all the world. The more they see walking in truth, the better they are pleased.