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John's Gospel, chapter 3. What I would like to do is give an overview, somewhat of an introduction in this message, in part 1, because there's so much here before us. Our text begins in verse 22 to the end of the chapter, verse 36.
And here in this section, John the Baptist exalts the Lord Jesus Christ. He exalts.
Hear the word of the Lord.
After these things, Jesus and his disciples came into the land of Judea, and there he remained with them and baptized. Now John also was baptizing in Aenon, near Salem, because there was much water there.
And they came and were baptized. For John had not yet been thrown into prison. Then there arose a dispute between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purification. And they came to John and said to him, Rabbi, he who was with you beyond the Jordan to whom you have testified, behold, he is baptizing, and all are coming to him.
John answered and said, A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness that I said, I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him. He who has the bride is the bridegroom.
But the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. Therefore, this joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease. He who comes from above is above all.
He who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. What he has seen and heard that he testifies, and no one receives his testimony. He who has received his testimony has certified that God is true.
For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God. For God does not give the Spirit by measure. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life.
And he who does not believe the Son shall not see life. But the wrath of God abides on him. Please bow with me as we take in this time of our worship to hear from heaven and seek our Lord's face within this hour of worship.
Our Father and our God, what a joy to realize the cause of true belief in your one and only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And through his sacrificial work on the cross, we have been given by your grace alone the right, the privilege to become your children and be part of the spiritual bride in which Jesus has chosen.
Father, we thank you.
And just as John the Baptist rejoiced in his day to point people to Jesus, the bridegroom, so, Father, we rejoice that the great day, that there is a great day coming. When your word says when all of Israel will be saved, repent.
And, O Lord, you will gather your elect, your elect, your people from the four corners of the earth to the final consummation to present a glorious bride without spot or wrinkle washed in the blood of the Lamb.
Lord, we pray that you would give us ears to hear what your Spirit is saying to the church. And through your word, through your written word, we will praise you and thank you for your glory and honor.
Amen.
The famous Leonard Bernstein, the director of the Philharmonic Orchestra, many years back, was asked a question. The question is, what was the hardest, and what is the hardest instrument in the orchestra to play?
The famous orchestra leader had a great knowledge of this, said straight up, without batting an eye, it is second fiddle. Second fiddle. As any great musician knows, every instrument is vital to the complete harmony of the orchestra itself as they all blend in together, with each one working in harmonious, beautiful musical instruments as they put together as one beautiful piece of music comes together.
The finest musician in each section of the orchestra always occupies first chair. However, there can be no triumphant harmony without those playing second, third, and even fourth chair. The second fiddle was the role that God has called John the Baptist to fulfill.
He was the forerunner. He was playing second fiddle. In a sense, his role was to prepare the world on stage, so to speak, for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah. Thus pointing all who would listen to the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Again, the role of second fiddle is not an insignificant role. It's a very important role. It is a substantial role. Now this morning, as God willing, and next Lord's Day, and possibly maybe the following, if God would permit it, we're going to be looking at these verses from chapter 3 to verse 36 at the end of the chapter, and by which way informs us of the events that take place in Judea, in the countryside after Jesus' visit to Jerusalem.
The main idea, the main point in this passage, is that John the Baptist is telling everyone, especially his disciples here, that his ministry in life is all about pointing others to the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's what his purpose and his mission is all about. When he said, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, he was pointing even the disciples of his to the Lord Jesus Christ at that time.
To all people, he says, he is the Lamb of God. This is God's Lamb. So John the Baptist's mission was to point others to Christ the Messiah, especially his disciples and his ministry and his life.
This was his mission.
This was his mission on earth. This was his fulfillment. And he says it here in the section between verse 26 all the way to the end of the chapter, that this was his joy. His joy was fulfilled to point everyone to Christ,.
The Lamb of God.
Now, behind the scenes of this wonderful passage of Scripture is really an official and permanent transition that's overlapping in the ministry of John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'd like to kind of fill you in a little bit of what's taking place here because it's so significant and it's so important that we get this.
John the Baptist was the last of the Old Testament prophets. In other words, he represented the old covenant that was basically fading out, fading away into the past. While Jesus Christ the Messiah comes on the scene, the anointed one, a new era has officially and permanently begun.
It's also important to note that this section of Scripture as we looked at and we're going to be looking at and we're going to be working our way through the Gospel is the fourth consecutive section that point our way into which Jesus fulfills and vastly surpasses the purification rituals of the Old Testament.
The contemporary Judaism that had been participating up to that point. Now, in fact, John has carefully positioned Jesus against the practices of contemporary Judaism. Why does he do this? In order to show that he, Christ, is far more superior than everything that the Old Testament has spoken of.
Those were prophecies and shadows and tithes, but Christ is the fulfillment of it. Let me give you an example as we've already worked through these chapters, but we will backtrack just a little bit just for us to see how it's led us up to this point and how significant this section is.
Take, for example, John chapter 2. It demonstrated that the water that was turned to wine demonstrated how the empty stone jars used for purification were obsolete. Absolutely obsolete. And Jesus was providing, what did he provide?
New wine. See this? The new wine for God's people. And we saw that in John chapter 2 verse 1 through 11. Then as you go read further in John chapter 2 verse 12 through 25, Jesus displaces the temple in order to demonstrate that the temple, the Old Testament temple, which was full of religious compromise, by the way, at that time, and being full of adultery and spiritual adultery, I should say, and money hungry thieves, that was literally blasphemy in the name of God, but it's really what is happening there is best seen was like a signpost in a sense, so to speak, pointing us to the Lord Jesus Christ, that this temple, this physical temple, is no longer where people will come to worship, but then Jesus gives that revelation in chapter 4 to a prostitute about there will come a time when worship will be worldwide.
It's not just in a building. And we were working our way to that point. But do you see the point? What's going on? The Lord Jesus Christ is the true mediator between God and man. Then, actually, we've just seen recently, John chapter 3 verse 1 to 21, Jesus fulfills the prophecy of the water and the spirit.
What are we talking about? New birth. You notice this.
There's new wine.
There will be a new temple.
Now there's new birth.
Foretold by the prophet Ezekiel and Jeremiah, you can read, in which Nicodemus should have known about, explaining to Nicodemus, the Pharisee, how his future death, Jesus' future death, will be lifted up on a cross of Calvary and then resurrecting from the dead.
It's all the ultimate, the ultimate, by the way, fulfillment and cure for the poisonous, deadly bite of the serpent. And Jesus gives that illustration from Numbers. And you see that in that wonderful verse of chapter 3 verse 14, As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
You see what's happening. You see, the Bible clearly demonstrates to us how Jesus surpasses everything, surpasses even the last Old Testament prophet, the John the Baptist, as well as any baptism of right or purification that he may represent.
So therefore, there's a transition from John the Baptist's ministry to that of Jesus' ministry, and this is actually what this section speaks of, which is the theme of this complete section, symbolizing that transition from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant.
A great transition is taking place. It's also important to note this, that the father of John the Baptist, Zacharias, understood this significance of the coming Messiah's relationship to the New Covenant as he makes it clear in his spirit-filled prophecy.
Turn with me very quickly, and I'd like for you to see this, to Luke chapter 1. Luke chapter 1, and Zacharias, John the Baptist's father, a priest, gives a wonderful prophecy here about this significance and this revelation that's taking place through Jesus Christ.
Chapter 1 is beginning at verse 67. Now his father, Zacharias, speaking of John the Baptist's father, was filled with the Holy Spirit, prophesied, saying, Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people.
He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David. And as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets, who has been since the world began, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us, to perform the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath which he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life.
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the highest, for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the remission of their sins through the tender mercy of our God, with which the day spring from on high has visited us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
And right there the prophecy ends in which Zacharias, by the Holy Spirit, being filled with the Holy Spirit, he prophesied that. And then in verse 80 he says,. So the child grew, became strong in spirit, speaking of John the Baptist here, and was in the desert till the day of his manifestation to Israel.
He was the forerunner of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's playing second fiddle, but yet a very significant one. And if you notice in this wonderful prophecy,.
The high priest,.
In which Zacharias knew the Scriptures and he understood the Scriptures, especially about the Messiah, the anointed one, Jesus Christ, who is coming to fulfill the promise of the new covenant. He was basically saying that all the promises to David, in verse 69, to Abraham, verse 73, depended for their fulfillment on the arrival of Jesus Christ as Christ came forth.
That's what the whole prophecy is about. The whole prophecy is based on the Old Testament text regarding the Davidic and Abrahamic covenants. And John the Baptist was the last of the Old Testament covenants, so to speak.
Now, before we look into this passage beginning with verse 22 to verse 36, again, this is all an introduction of everything that we're going to be looking at. We're not going to be able to work our way through this in one worship service.
So, there's something very important also I'd like to show you that has great significance and with which we'll later see in the text, and that there are two bookends I'd like to point out to you that's in John 3 here.
Now, this section of verse 22 breaks off here as we look in this wonderful section. But there's also a wonderful bookend as we looked at John 3, 16, the golden verse of the scripture. Everybody's so familiar with John 3, 16, right?
Actually, John 3, 16 is one of those wonderful, wonderful texts that is so abused today, sad to say, and tragically. When people want to justify their sinful living, they always go to John 3, 16 to somehow justify their sinful living with the repentance of sins.
Because they figure, well, Jesus is not speaking about repentance in that chapter, but you see in other chapters and you see all through the Gospels, Jesus is constantly commanding, repent and believe the Gospel.
Repent or likewise perish. John the Baptist constantly said, repent. The Old Testament prophets, repent. The apostles, repent. God has commanded all men everywhere to repent. Acts 17, repent. The last words of the Lord Jesus Christ when He was glorified to the seven churches in Asia, repent, repent, repent.
You see, we hear more about the love of God than repentance today. But it's actually the goodness of God.
And the love of God.
That brings us to repentance.
Right?
That's the word of God. Now, I want to prove this to you from Scripture. Because there's a serious misunderstanding even within the churches, sad to say, that they focus so much on just the love of God rather than God's holy attributes.
Even R .C. Sproul, I love what he said. You know, even when you look into Heaven and you go into the book of Revelation, it's not love, love, love that is said before the throne of God. What is it? Holy, holy, holy.
The only attribute of God, by the way,.
That's raised to the third degree. Now, there's a flow of thought from John 3 .16,.
For God so loved the world.
That He gave His only begotten Son and whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. That's a great verse, isn't it? But he does mention about whoever believes in Him should not perish.
So what's going to happen to those that do not believe?
They choose not to believe.
They're going to perish. The flow of thought from that great text goes to verse 21 and actually is an application. Jesus gives application to this from verse 1 into verse 21 as He speaks to Nicodemus.
But let me go to the next verse, verse 17. God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world. Thank God. This is why Jesus came. He did not come to condemn the world. Now, most people stop right there.
And say,.
Ha! Can't you see? Now, Jesus doesn't bring condemnation. I can live any way I want to, right? No, that's not what the text says. Actually, it says, for the very reason and purpose that God sent His Son, Jesus.
And by the way, God is not harsh. God takes no delight in the death of the wicked. And people say, How can a loving God send people to hell? But you know, Scripture says that God takes no delight in the death of the wicked.
And if you see, God is not harsh. He's not a cruel ruler, a dictator that's anxious to just pour His holy anger upon mankind.
And throw people into hell.
No.
His heart, beloved, is filled with great tenderness and mercy, compassion towards depraved mankind, folks, and has gone to the utmost cost in order to save men. And by the way, who deserve justice? Who deserve hell?
Who deserve wrath? Now, in your mind, that may sound strange, but if you really come to the light, as it says in the Scriptures here, the light exposes our darkness. And we're going to see this. You know, He could have sent His Son into the world to condemn it, but He didn't.
How do you say, Pastor? Because God is holy and He's just. And did you know that God would be fair and just if He were to send the whole world to hell? But He doesn't do it. Now, the Scriptures are very clear.
And when Jesus preached on the Sermon on the Mount, He says, enter into the straight gate, for narrow is the way, broad is the way that leads to destruction, but narrow is the gate that leads to life, and very few will find it.
Few will find it. But many, many will go into that broad road of destruction. There's only two gates there, folks. Not three, two. You know, again, God in His holy justice could send us all to hell if He so desired to,.
But He didn't.
On the contrary, God the Father, in His great love and His great mercy, sent Jesus Christ to suffer, to bleed and to die on the cross. And then it says here in the text that the world through Him might be saved.
He is the only Savior. Actually, that's what the text is actually saying when He's speaking to Nicodemus in the last section before it goes into transition to verse 22. Verse 18,. He who believes in Him is not condemned, but he who believes not is condemned already.
Why?
Why is he already condemned? Did you know the Scriptures answer that? Because, any time you say because, God's given an answer to basically the statement He's made before. Because He has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
So what does that mean? What's that verse saying? It's basically saying that all of mankind is divided into two classes. Only two, not three. No straddling defense. Today you hear that listening to me, you're saved by the grace of God to the uttermost or you're lost.
You're serving God as your father or you're serving Satan as your father. People say, well hold on pastor. I know a lot of good people.
Take a look.
In the eyes of God, there's no comparison to the goodness of God. They think they're good, but the Bible says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Heck, there are none that's righteous.
No, not one. Now of course, we know Jesus is the only righteous one. We know that, but He stands apart, doesn't He? Either we believe the gospel, or we don't believe the gospel. Nothing in between. Beloved, and let me say this.
Eternal destination lies right at the door there. Even though in God's eternal sovereign decree and salvation on the eternal side, this has already been predetermined and eternity past. Not by the foreknowledge of who God sees to come into salvation, to come to Him.
It's already been set.
That's all through Scripture.
People don't like to hear that. They say, well, you mean to say I have no control over that? God is the one that has the control. Ultimately.
Wow.
It's really deep. But it's believe or believe not. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you notice there in verse 18, in which Jesus speaks of he who believes in Him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the Son, the only begotten Son of God.
Then John the Baptist, written by John the Apostle in verse 36, he who believes in the Son has everlasting life. And he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.
And by the way, in the original literal translation of that, that word believe means to obey.
To obey.
I could show you Scripture after Scripture after Scripture, if time permitted, all the way through the 27 New Testament epistles, how many times it speaks about those who do not obey the Gospel. The Gospel must be obeyed.
And what do you mean? Does obedience save me? Well, when you are regenerated, there will be obedience. Regeneration is the root. Obedience is the fruit.
That's the way it works.
So, if you go further,.
Look at verse 19. The thought continues. And this is the condemnation that light, who's that light?
Christ.
He's come. He has come into the world. He is that light. Men love darkness rather than light. Listen to that. They loved it. Men loved darkness rather than light because this word tells us why men love darkness.
It tells us because their deeds were evil.
The deeds were evil.
The heart is desperately wicked. Who can know it? You ever heard the saying, trust your heart? That's a lie straight out of the pit of hell, folks.
You trust your heart,.
You end up in hell. You trust in the Word of God for this is the light of the truth to give you light in the darkness in which we cannot know where we can go. It's a lamp unto our feet, a light unto our path.
Christ is that light that comes into the world to save. He is the sinless, spotless, perfect Lamb of God. He is that light from glory, from heaven that has come to save wretched sinners like you and me.
He died. He gave His life for a ransom for many to be saved. And all those who trust in Him, all those who believe in Him, and then ultimately those who obey Him.
Will be saved.
But let me ask a question here. But do men love the Lord Jesus Christ for this? Do they love Christ for what He not only has done,.
But for who He is?
No, tragically, sadly, not. Actually, it's opposite. Men hate Christ. They reject Christ. People prefer to love their sins. As Watson says, they prefer to drink a drop of pleasure in this world for a sea of wrath and how fleeting this time in life is.
And people are just drinking all this sin in and loving it. As they think everything's okay. Oh, I can repent tomorrow. That's a lie of the devil. Always tomorrow. But the Scripture says today is the day of salvation.
Don't put it off. They drink of the passing sinful pleasures and perish, sadly to say, instead of loving the Lord Jesus Christ. Scripture says this. Jesus Christ is rejected by men. Isaiah 53, 3. He is despised and rejected by men.
A man of sorrows acquainted with grief, and we hid as it were our faces from Him. He was despised and we did not esteem Him.
And by the way,.
Notice that word, esteem.
We.
That includes all of us. We were all there, right? We did not esteem Him. That's an important word. But John the Baptist, he esteems Christ. They do not esteem Jesus. Why do people do not esteem Christ?
The answer is self. Self-love. Have you noticed this world is so full of self? You may check your heart this morning.
You may be so full of self.
Self is the biggest idol and the worst of all idols. And pride is the worst of all sins. Self-love, self-esteem, self-worth, self-pleasure, self-pity. Self, self, self. You mean to tell me I don't need to love myself?
That's the biggest problem. I had a visitor here, and I'll keep the person anonymous, that asked me after the message, and I mentioned this. He says, you mean to tell me that nowhere in Scripture that God would have you to love yourself?
I said, God forbid. Deny yourself, yes, but love yourself, no. No. Jesus actually said you must, in a sense, hate the life in a sense of, in comparison to Jesus. Christ must be all in all. You know, when people hear this, they think, Pastor, you're out of your mind.
You're taking something out of context there, absolutely. You can check it for yourself, beloved. Jesus calls his disciples, what, to follow him, and he says, you deny yourself. Take up your cross and follow me.
That's what he said, isn't it? Now, verse 21, where's repentance? Where's repentance? This is all a flow from John 3, 16, right? But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done and manifest in God.
In other words,.
So what does light do when it shines in darkness? It exposes, doesn't it? You go to Genesis 1. God separated the light after he said, the first command, let there be light. Then you can read on and it says, God separates the light from the darkness.
They do not mix, folks. You notice in creation, there's light and there's darkness. God shows us, even in nature, all these things that are spiritual, to our spiritual man to understand the great significance and truth of this.
So light shines in the darkness. It separates and it exposes. So this is what Jesus tells Nicodemus, basically. And there's nothing but repentance here because light exposes people's sinfulness, my sinfulness, your sinfulness.
And Jesus came into the world of woe,.
The world of darkness.
He made sinful men uncomfortable. The most loving man that ever lived made people uncomfortable by his holy presence. Why? Because he revealed their awful, depraved condition by his holiness. One man put it this way, the best way to reveal a crookedness of one's stick is to place a straight stick beside it.
That's the truth, isn't it? And Jesus is the straight one. Holy, perfect, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, we see in this section, it recounts, overlapping the period of the ministry of both Jesus and John the Baptist in Judea, as I mentioned.
Also, a quick note of introduction here, in the Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the account of Jesus' ministry begins after John's imprisonment. It's interesting, isn't it? Because it speaks of Mark 1 .14.
Yet, this account offers additional details for us. And although, according to John 4 .2, it speaks, first of all, that Jesus was also baptizing like John, but John 4 .2 is important because, technically, it was the disciples of the Lord that was doing the baptizing.
It wasn't Jesus Himself. So, what's the purpose of this scene in the text? Well, the purpose of the scene in this text is it allows John the Baptist to emphasize his ministry and give testimony to the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is the last testimony that we read in the Holy Scripture before John is thrown into prison and beheaded. John's ministry was basically to prepare the way of the Lord Jesus Christ. So, the ministry of John the Baptist is summed up, really, in verse 30.
And this is what we're really looking at. He must increase, but I must decrease. That's the point. Everything that's said in this text points to verse 30. Verse 30 is like an underscore. I've got a great quote for you.
As I was studying this, MacArthur's commentary, he said this, quote, John summarized his view of himself in relation to Jesus and perhaps the most humble statement uttered by anyone in Scripture. He must increase, but I must decrease.
Leon Morris observes it and says this,. It is not particularly easy in this world to gather followers about one for a serious purpose. But when they are gathered, it is infinitely harder to detach them and firmly insist that they go after another.
It is the measure of John's greatness that he did just that.
End quote.
John was a humble man. John was a holy man. And he was God's herald. The must, the must speaks of divine necessity. The divine necessity. MacArthur goes on to say, It was God's will for John to give way to Jesus.
There was no reason for the crowds to hang around the herald once the king had arrived. And because he understood this, John the Baptist joyously accepted God's plan for his ministry.
And this exactly is what takes place here. Now, in way of introduction once again, it can be neatly divided up. And this is an outline. And we're not going to get through all this today as you well can see.
But first of all, we'll see the setting of the revelation in verse 22 -26. And we'll see that today. Next and second of it, we will see Jesus alone was God's appointed Messiah. In verse 27 and 28. Third, we see Jesus alone was the bridegroom in verse 29 and 30.
Fourth, we see Jesus alone was above. He's from above, from heaven in verse 31. Fifth, we see Jesus alone was God's spokesman in verse 32 -34. Sixth, we see Jesus alone had full measure of the Spirit.
And in verse 34 and last, seventh, final, we see Jesus alone determines man's final destination in verse 35 -36. Now, all this is a lot, isn't it? But it tells us one thing in this passage that is set before us, that it all points to the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's all about the Lord Jesus Christ. That's exactly what Paul said in Colossians 1.
I love this.
Colossians 1 .13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are in all earth, visible and invisible, whether there be thrones, dominions, or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.
And notice what it says in verse 17. And He is before all things. And in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
And that preeminence means first place in all things. Folks, is He first place in everything in your life today? That's a very important question because when you're born of the Spirit of God, Christ, through the Holy Spirit, comes and enters and changes you.
A supernatural change takes place. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things become new. And Christ becomes all in all to you. Like one person said, He's Lord of all. He will not be Lord at all. And He is Lord of all.
Well, let's go through this very quickly this morning. The background. The background of the setting for the revelation. The background. Look at verse 22. After the things, Jesus and His disciples come into the land of Judea.
And there He remained with them and baptized. Now again, this is after His interview with Nicodemus. Jesus moved out into the country, directs in the districts of Judea. And from this verse to the end of the chapter, as I've mentioned, John the Apostle describes Christ's ministry in Judea.
Then John the Baptist basically narrates to the end of it. And then Jesus continued to proclaim the good news of salvation. As men came to the light of the gospel, they were baptized. Now, I'd like to say this.
Water baptism does not save anyone. There are some churches that believe that. They believe that the H20 saves people. But beloved, let me tell you this. That does not save. Moody put it this way. He said, if that was the case, I would take everybody down to the river, and this was in Illinois, and take them down there and dunk them in the water.
One must be born again from above by the Spirit of God. This is exactly what Jesus speaks of to Nicodemus. And Nicodemus did not understand the concept of being born again, a new birth. And Jesus says, Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
So being reborn, the new birth, this is what gets you into the kingdom. Not being baptized in water.
If that's the case,.
And by the way, our neighbors down the road, the Church of Christ, believes in this, folks. They feel that, they really believe that you must be water baptized to get into the heaven. I got into a huge, speaking of disputes, a huge dispute.
And an elder in the Church of Christ one time, and we was in a nursing home, I met him, his mother was there in her last days, and I was visiting my great aunt before she went home. And the dispute came up, the question came up, what about baptism here?
And H20, he said, Oh yeah, you must be baptized to get into the kingdom of heaven. I said, that's not what the word of God says, my friend. As graciously as I could, I went through the scriptures, and I went to the thief on the cross.
I said, there's a perfect example right there. And he basically says, well, that was before grace ultimately came, and Jesus before he said his last breath, and grace, and law, and all this. I said, look, that doesn't hold water.
The thief on the cross, Jesus told him, today you will be with me in paradise. He could not get off the cross and go to church and hear preachers preach, and he could not get off the cross and be water baptized, could he?
You mean, pastor, you can get to heaven without being water baptized? Oh, absolutely. Now, Jesus does command water baptism, not to negate that. But Jesus is basically saying, this is what follows after new birth.
This is an open confession. All it is is a sign, beloved. It's an outward sign to show people as a testimony what has happened within. There's a new birth. I have died with Christ. I have been buried with Christ.
I have been risen with Christ. And that's what the symbolism of immersion, which we believe, the mold of baptism.
And it goes on and on. But here, it's interesting, a dispute comes up here about baptism. Verse 23, look at here. Now John also was baptized in Aenon near Salem because there was much water there. That's interesting.
Now that's a good case for immersion, isn't it?
Amen?
But they came and were baptized. And now we see here at first glance that people began to flock from John to Jesus. There was a decline in John's ministry at this point. And his popularity, think of this, gives the religionists, the Jews, the Pharisees, an opportunity to attack John the Baptist's ministry.
It's interesting because this is how they attacked him. They saw an open door here, so they went after him with teeth. This is how religious people are. They attack and they look for things and they want to scrutinize and tear you apart.
So they attacked him by asking the disciples a crucial question. They stirred things up. Two basic questions of life. Verse 24 says, for John had not yet been thrown into prison. That's basically an explanation that John's ministry continues and the response of the devout Jews gives to it.
And so in the near future we will see John the Baptist will be thrown into prison. He's beheaded for his faithful testimony. But in the meantime, he will still diligently and faithfully carry out his commission.
Look at verse 25. Then there arose a dispute. Here's the dispute. Between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purification. This is interesting. You still have disputes today. A lot of it is about sanctification.
Churches split and continue to split because of disputes. But here you see the Jews about purification. The religionists questioned the purifying value of John's baptism. How do we know this? Well, I got another quote by MacArthur.
He says this.
The dispute, quote,. The dispute probably concerned the relation of the baptismal ministries of John and Jesus. To the Jews, purification practices alluded to in chapter 2, verse 6. The real underlining impetuous, however, centered in the concern of John's disciples that Jesus was in competition with him.
Now we see a problem of jealousy. We see a problem of how this festers and continues to grow. And it's as if the religionists or the ones, the religious people, the Pharisees, were the ones that basically stirred the pot among John the Baptist's disciples.
They thought that John the Baptist must have been a sham. They must have thought that he was a false prophet. And John's baptism, this is basically the question they were saying. If John's baptism was really of any value and authentic, why were people now flocking to Jesus?
See? Well, the argument was whether the baptism of John was better than that of Jesus. Which baptism had greater power? Well, which one has greater value? Perhaps the Pharisees tried to make John's disciples jealous, which I think that is really the point here of Jesus and his current popularity.
That's a good probability. So the charge, of course, cuts John's disciples to the core, doesn't it? And they asked John. They come to John. Why do all men turn to Jesus instead of remaining with Him? Notice verse 26.
And they came to John, said to him, Rabbi, by the way, this is the only time that John the Baptist is called Rabbi. A master.
He's really a prophet.
The office of a prophet is completely different than that of the Master, the Lord Jesus Christ, a Rabbi. Only time they call Him Rabbi. Seems like they need an answer from Him. He was with you. He who was with you.
Notice they don't say Jesus.
They say He.
You know why? Because they're jealous of Him. Even of Christ. John's disciples. He who was with you beyond Jordan to whom you have testified. Behold, He is baptizing and all are coming to Him. They don't even say His name.
He is baptizing. And of course, again, in chapter 4, verse 2, it was not technically Jesus baptizing. It was the disciples. But now we see Jesus, John's disciples, comes basically for a decision. They need something else.
They seem to be saying, if your baptism is better, John, why is it that so many people are leaving you and going to Jesus? A question of supremacy. A man's master in his life. I want you to think of this.
Before I go into another section. John the Baptist graciously throws them a curveball that they didn't expect. And this shows his humility. John answered and said, a man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven.
You see what he said?
He steps out of the way. And it's like he's okay with it. He's okay to fade away. And that's actually what he says in verse 30. He must increase, but I must decrease. In other words, the star will fade into the past, but the great star, the bright and shining star comes out in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And this is what he said. He points them to Christ. He says, it's not about me. We'll look at that more in detail, God willing, next Lord's Day. But the question here then of purification strikes at the two basic questions of life.
Think of this now. We go back to purification. It is a question of purifying and cleansing. You know, the heart of man really looks for this cleansing of guilt and the memory.
To wipe it clean.
A conscience that needs to be purified. A heart that needs to be cleansed because down deep, people, if the light exposes them, they see from the truth that,.
Yes, I need this cleansing.
What can cleanse me? Who can cleanse me? Can a ceremony cleanse me? Can other religious leaders cleanse me? Can going to church cleanse me? Can attending church somehow bring comfort in my conscience and give a feeling of acceptance to God?
Well, I'm not against folks coming to church and hearing the gospel, but church itself does not cleanse us. And giving charity, can my good deeds somehow cleanse me? Well, God is for charity, but it must be done out of a pure heart, unfeigned faith, and God's not against that, but it must be done out of the right attitude, but it can cleanse you.
And doing some good deed for others, can that cleanse me? Can being loyal to some good man's teaching or leadership, can that cleanse me? Oh, beloved, what's the answer? What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my righteousness. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. That's the power of the blood of Jesus, folks.
It has the power. You know, Jeremiah 13, 23 says, Can the eat the open change its skin, or the leopard its spots? No.
Impossible.
Go with me to Hebrews 9, and you'll see. I'll back this up with Scripture. And that song, that wonderful hymn I just mentioned backs it up with Scripture. And we go to Scripture. And Scripture says in Hebrews 9, verse 12,.
Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood. Listen to that. His own blood. He entered the most holy place once for all, having obtained the eternal redemption. And if the blood of bulls and goats, he's speaking about the Old Testament offerings, or shadows and types, and the ashes of a heifer, and sprinkling of the unclean.
Notice what he mentions. Sanctifies the purifying of the flesh. How much more? Listen to this, folks. How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Isn't that glorious? What a question. And in verse 15,. And for this reason he is the mediator of the new covenant, and by means of death, his payment that he made on the cross as the sacrifice of sacrifices, that he took our sin, he took our place as the substitute for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.
I should make you want to shout and praise him and glorify him because exactly what John the Baptist says, he's the Lamb of God. I point to him. And beloved, that's what each and every one of us should be doing.
Point people to Jesus. Only the precious blood of Christ can cleanse our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Very quick application. My time's about gone.
From a dear brother.
And he gets this from Warren Wearsby. I appreciate this so much. Sent this to me on my text. Three musts that must happen.
Number one.
Sinners must be born again. John 3, 7. Two. A Savior must be exalted. That's Jesus Christ. John 3, 14. A Savior must be exalted. And you say that as Jesus says, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
Lifted up on a cross. Lifted up. That must happen.
And it did happen.
And then third, Wearsby says, servant must decrease. John 3, 30. He must increase. I must decrease.
Must. Must.
It must happen. That's a divine necessity. I have other applications, but I'm not going to go there. I think that's efficient and sufficient.
Let me close with this.
And again,.
I read this from Warren Wearsby in his commentary. So I take no credit for this.
He said,.
What really matters is this. Do you have a personal living relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ? That's my question to you today, beloved. Do you really have a living relationship with Christ? John 17, 3.
And this is eternal life, that they may know Thee. The only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
Them two are one.
You must know Christ. And also Christ must know you. He knows you in the sense of He knows all things. But we're talking about intimate knowledge now. We're talking about does He intimately know you? You see what I'm saying?
That intimacy. Wearsby says this. It is a living relationship. It is a loving relationship. It is a learning relationship. This is what discipleship's about, beloved. And the first step to it is denying yourself.
No wonder the world fights and people that are so-called Christians in the church come and say, Don't tell me that I can't love myself. Folks, they're deceived. That's the deception of hell and Satan.
No wonder people don't want to hear that.
Because it strikes at the heart of the problem. Self must be crucified. Self must be put to death. We must mortify Him. That's in sanctification. After one is born again. And that's a lifelong process until we're glorified.
But, beloved, I'm telling you it's worth it. Wearsby said this. It is a living relationship that begins with the new birth. The birth from above. When we receive Jesus into our lives, we share His very life and become children of the living God.
Second, it is also a loving relationship. For He is the bridegroom and we are part of the bride. Like John the Baptist, we desire that Jesus must increase and we must decrease. He must receive all the honor,.
All the glory.
No one else.
And third, it is a learning relationship. It is a living relationship, a loving relationship. It is a learning relationship. For He, the Lord Jesus Christ, is faithful. He is the faithful witness who shares God's truth and who is the truth with us.
What a delight it is to receive Him.
His Word.
His Word to meditate on and to make it part of our very lives. Do you desire that this morning?
If you do desire that, it's the Holy Spirit that put that desire there. You can't do it yourself. I had a person come to me one time years ago and I never will forget this. Actually, it was my own father.
My father. He's dead and gone now.
Son, you talk about something impossible. And I said, Dad, it is impossible. We was on the road driving. We was listening to preaching.
That is so strong. He said, I can't do that. And I said, Dad, I know you can't. But the Holy Spirit can do it through you. He said, Son, I wish I had your faith. And I look back with a tear coming out of my eye and I said, Dad, I wish you had my faith too.
Folks, I'm telling you. And if you don't have the faith, fall on your face before God and ask God. Ask and it shall be given.
God is gracious.
He will give that faith to you.
He is gracious.
And again, like I said at the first of this sermon, God does not take delight in no one to perish. He meets you more than halfway, folks.
He's already done all of it.
As far as the work is concerned and the payment. But in repentance, He can grant repentance, as Brother Lawson said in the Sunday School this morning. God grants repentance, even the repentance to turn away from the sin that you should hate.
And by the way, if you love your sin, you've got a problem. Even children of God fight up against this in sanctification because the new nature has come, but the old man still swims, as Luther says. And then therefore, even the children of God must put that to death.
But if you're lost without Christ and alienated from God, He can come and transform your life and make you a new creature.
Amen. Let's pray. Our Lord and our God, Lord, we would pray that if anyone is here that does not know You, Lord, I pray that true conversion will take place by the power of Thy Spirit. You can do this work.
Nothing's too hard for You. It's too hard for us, Lord, but nothing's too hard for You. And we thank You that You take delight in taking wretched sinners and saving them from themselves and from the wrath of God.
Lord, we pray also for those that are born again here, Lord, that You would shine so brightly in our lives that anything in us would just pale in comparison and just falls by the wayside next to Jesus Christ.
Lord, I pray that You would help us by Your grace to live for the increase of Your kingdom, but most of all, the increase of Your Son. Lord, humble us and keep us humble, I pray, for Your glory and honor and help us to decrease for Your namesake and for Your honor and glory.
And I ask this in Jesus' name,.
Amen and Amen.