If you'd like to follow along,
I'm gonna be in John chapter three. But not where you think. John chapter three. I'm gonna
begin reading in verse 27. This is one thing I always had to
pay very close attention to when I first started because these
are the words of John the Baptist written down by John the Apostle.
but this is John three and verse 27. These are the words, like
I said, of John the Baptist. John answered and said, a man
can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven. Ye
yourselves bear me witness that I said, I am not the Christ,
but that I am sent before him. He that hath the bride is the
bridegroom. but the friend of the bridegroom
which standeth and heareth him rejoiceth greatly because of
the bridegroom's voice. This my joy therefore is fulfilled. And here's what I want to preach
about today. He must increase, but I must decrease. That's my title. He that cometh
from above is above all, He that is of the earth is earthly and
speaketh of the earth. He that cometh from heaven is
above all. And what he hath seen and heard
that he testifieth and no man received his testimony. He that
hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true. For he whom God hath sent speaketh
the words of God For God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto
him. The Father loveth the Son and
hath given all things into his hand. He that believeth on the
Son hath everlasting life. And he that believeth not the
Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. I'm not gonna go into the wrath
of God, because Walter's been covering that. But the wrath
of God is a real thing. The wrath of God is a real thing.
It's just as real as everlasting life. It's in the same sentence. These are your two choices, eternal
life or eternal death. Unfortunately, we will never
choose eternal life. Jesus Christ told us You didn't
choose me, I chose you. And ordained you. Without that, all we'll choose
is eternal death. Anyhow, these are the words of
John the Baptist, and this is what he said. I am not the Christ. I am sent before him. I am sent
before him. I am a friend of the bridegroom,
is what he said. And when the bridegroom comes,
guess what? The friend of the bridegroom is happy, is joyful
to hear his voice, to hear his voice. John told us himself,
he said, he said he was sent, John the Baptist was sent to
baptize with water. But, but, the one coming is going
to baptize with the Holy Ghost. Oh. The one upon whom the Spirit
had descended and remained on him, he's the one that baptizes
with the Holy Ghost. Jesus Christ, that's in John
one verse 33. What did John the Baptist say
about Jesus? Verse 29 of John chapter one. The next day John seeth Jesus
coming unto him and saith, behold, the Lamb of God. which taketh
away the sin of the world. Oh, I like that, I like that.
What'd he say? This one who's coming, this one
I was sitting before, he's here, he's here, he's here. Oh, I like that. But it also says, his own received
him not. He that believeth the Son hath
everlasting life. He that believeth not the Son
shall not see life. But the wrath of God abideth
on him. What he had seen and heard, this
was verse 32, that he testified and no man received his testimony. His own received him not. He
came to the Jews and they wouldn't have him. John said behold the
lamb and they didn't say where is he? They didn't believe John. That shouldn't surprise us because
they didn't believe Jesus either, God manifest in the flesh. But
here's the thing, whether the truth is received or whether
it's not received, it is to be preached. It doesn't stop the messenger
and it better not, it will not stop the message. But it doesn't
stop the messenger either. The truth is to be preached,
the gospel is to be proclaimed, Christ is to be lifted up and
extolled whether anyone believes it or not. Whether anyone believes
him or not. The gospel is the same and it's
to be preached. Then John says these words. He
must increase, but I must decrease. Now, I don't know the extent of John's
fame, to use a word, of renown, but John was known. It was known
that he was by the River Jordan baptizing people and preaching. And he was preaching the Messiah
who was to come. That's what he was preaching.
I was sent before him. What? To make the crooked path
straight. To lay it down, he's coming. And that's what John
was doing. And John was baptizing. John
had always said, he's not the message. John the Baptist was
not the message, he was just the messenger. And now here John
the Baptist says, he's here and he must increase. He must increase. Now, before I get too far into
it, let's be really, really, really, really clear. There is
no increase to Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is not getting better
here. No, that's not what he's talking
about, at all. Just drive that out of your head. I mean, I know some people like
to think, oh, well, Jesus grew, yes, Jesus did grow up, but Jesus
Christ didn't ever get any better. He was God manifest in the flesh
when Simeon was holding him as an infant. He was God manifest
in the flesh before John the Baptist knew who he was. And
he's God manifest in the flesh now when John said, behold, the
Lamb of God. Oh, I like that. See, because
in the next verse after he says this, he must increase, but I
must decrease. He says, he that cometh from
above is is above all. And Jesus Christ
is the same. Yesterday and today and forever. He has never changed. He's not
changing now. Jesus Christ did not become more
God, more perfect, no. That's the actual definition
of perfection. It cannot be improved upon. There
is no improvement in perfection, and that's what perfection means.
And Jesus Christ was, is, and always shall be perfectly man
and perfectly God. In a way that we will not understand
until we wake in his likeness. And I don't know that we'll have
the whole story then, but I'm hoping I'm gonna be smarter then
than I am now. But here's the thing, he was
God, he is God, he ever shall be God. But he must increase,
or and he must increase. Now, here's the thing, this is
from, and this is what the scriptures say, this is from John the Baptist's
perspective. Now, because here, Where is it? In
chapter one, if you look here, where he says, behold the Lamb
of God which taketh away the sin of the world, in verse 30,
this is he of whom I'm said, after me cometh a man which is
preferred before me. Right? He's preferred before
me, for he was before me. Verse 31, and, these are the
words of John the Baptist, I knew him not. I knew him not. but that he should be made manifest
to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water. John bear
record saying, I saw the spirit descending from heaven like a
dove, and not only did it descend upon him, and it abode on him. Abode upon him. Then he says
it again, verse 33. And I knew him not. I knew him
not. John the Baptist was sent before
Jesus Christ, but at one time he didn't know him. And here's
the thing, if you wanna go back to the history, I'm not gonna
go too far into it, they were cousins. Mary and Elizabeth, John's mother,
were sisters. So I assume they saw each other
sometime or another, but no, I didn't know him as the Christ,
as the Messiah. I knew him not, I knew him not. Here he is, the one whose shoes
I'm not worthy to unleash, whose sandals I'm not worthy, whose
feet I'm not worthy to clean. This one is above all, is above
all, oh my. He must increase. He was God and John the Baptist
didn't know him. Isn't that amazing? Now he didn't
stay that way. He saw him and said behold the
lamb. The lamb of God that's gonna take away the sins of the
world. This one he must increase. Now I do say that John was, John
the Baptist was referencing the difference that Christ's ministry
was going to increase. Which it did, it did. Jesus Christ's
ministry became more public He did miracles and signs and wonders. He healed people. He opened blind
eyes. He healed lepers, folks. That's unheard of. He raised
the dead. That was also unheard of. And
he also, Jesus Christ also preached the gospel to the poor. What
another miracle. Whether we know it or not. whether
they recognized it or not. And here's the thing, the ministry
of Jesus Christ did become widely known. He had a following at
times. And they got excited when he
came into town. They had heard about him from
other people. His ministry did increase, and it must increase,
that's true. And it still is. Because his
words are still read today. We're reading them right here.
Walter's gonna read some more. Paul's reading some in Wheelerburg.
There are ministers, true ministers, who are going to be reading the
words of Christ all over this country, and all over this world. He must increase, and he has. 2,000 years later, and we're
still reading his words. Mm. He is exalted in true gospel
sermons, preached by those ministers whom he has sent. That's what John said. I was
sent. I was sent. And what? I preached. And I baptized. He must increase. Today, Jesus
Christ is preached. The Messiah. The Holy One of
Israel. The Redeemer. the king of kings
and lord of lords. The lord of hosts is his name. That's his name. He must increase. He must increase. We preach of
his kingdom, there shall be no end. He must increase. Yes, Jesus is the same yesterday,
and today, and forever, and to us, today, believers, today,
he must increase, and, or but, I must decrease. That's still
true today as it was 2,000 years ago when John the Baptist said
it. He said this, but I must decrease. Notice how personally John the
Baptist says this. He said, I, I must decrease. He didn't say you must decrease.
He said, I. Although it's true of you too,
it's true of me too. I must decrease. Because here's
the point. To me, from my perspective, and
to you from your perspective, he must increase and I must decrease. That's what I'm saying to you.
He must increase and you, you must decrease. The longer I go, The longer I have believed, the more I seem to, little bit
of laying a hold of this. He must increase and I must decrease. The longer I go and grow believing
Christ, the more I know he must increase. He must. Because in my mind and in my
heart, He must increase and He must decrease. I must decrease,
excuse me. In my life and in my love, He
must increase and I must decrease. I'll tell you how this happens,
because here's the verse, you don't have to turn there, but
it's 2 Peter 3, 18. He says this, but grow in grace, and in the
knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. To him be glory,
both now and forever. Amen. I know this is true. I know this verse is true. To
grow in grace and knowledge. I'm not talking about growing
in, what is it, sanctification. No, no, talking about growing
in grace and the knowledge of, it's learning. When you study,
when you hear sermons, when you learn, when you occupy your mind
with the things of Christ, to grow in his grace but in the
knowledge of him, he must increase and I must decrease. But I do want to tell you something. When I first read this and when
I was first thinking about this, growing in grace and the knowledge
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, it really didn't turn
out to be what I thought it would. Now that's my fault, not the
scriptures, that's my fault. Because you understand, you read
this and you think in your head, because we're human beings, I'm
gonna get stronger. No, I found out I'm weaker. I'm
gonna get stronger in the Lord and know more about the Lord.
And yes you do, you do grow in grace and you do grow in knowledge.
I am nowhere near as ignorant as I used to be, thank God Almighty. But here's the thing, the more
I learn, the weaker I see that I am. You understand, I thought I was
gonna get, be a warrior. No, that's not how it works.
The more you know about Christ, the more how little you know
yourself to be. I'm not growing stronger, I'm
learning that I'm weaker. And I learned that I am weaker
than I ever knew. He must increase and I must decrease. Learning how little strength
that I have, how little I really know of his grace. No, and here's
the thing, not only that, I have grown in grace and the knowledge
of Jesus Christ to find out this, I should decrease. I need to
decrease. Because to grow in the grace
and the knowledge of Jesus Christ, is to enhance your dependency
on him, and to know your dependency, that there's nothing in you. And here's the thing. This is
something most people don't get, probably won't understand, even
though I'm gonna say it. I want to decrease. You understand? I want to decrease. I want to
have, I want to come to the place where I can really say and mean
it, I have no confidence in the flesh. But I have every, every
confidence in him. He must increase, but I must
decrease. And here's the thing, those things
are related. The more he increases, the lower
you're gonna decrease. You understand, if he's not increased,
you think you're pretty close. But the more he increases, the
lower you go. And that is the way it's supposed
to be. The more you know of Christ,
the more you know you are not him. What is it? I have not arrived. Some people
think they've arrived. And you know that the problem
is, is that they're bringing Christ down and raising themselves
up. And you're not supposed to do that. He must increase, but
I must decrease. I want to have no confidence
in the flesh. Matter of fact, I wrote this
down. I must decrease in my own preaching. Because the preaching,
the sermon's not to be about me, it's to be about him. It's
to be about him. Last week I preached from Isaiah
53. And you know what I preached? By God's grace, I preached about
him. He's a man of sorrows and acquainted with griefs. Now I've
got sorrows and I've got griefs, but that ain't me. He's not talking
about me. Oh, the chastisement. My chastisement was laid on him. He must increase and I must decrease. The message is come to him. That's
the gospel. Come to this one. And the good
news is, he must increase and I must decrease. I like that,
I do. I've got to decrease my own thoughts
because I am still, to this day, my own worst enemy. Understand, I have trouble being
humble. If I'm good at being humble,
I get proud of it. It's like, you know, yeah. I remember an old joke from a
book where a guy says, I got more humility in my little finger
than you got in your whole body. And the guy says, oh, I'm sure
you do. Being real humble. And neither one of them got the
joke, you know. I have a decided tendency to compare myself with
other worms. In some ways, I look pretty good
that way. To some worms, now the other
worms I don't compare myself to, the good ones. But here's
the thing, I have to look out about being proud about how humble
I think I am. I gotta decrease in my own thoughts,
in my own mind. And I gotta decrease in my walk. Oh, I know, I know. I must remember
that I cannot walk a right in and of myself. And folks, neither
can you. I'll just say it right there,
neither can you. Because to walk in the Spirit takes the Holy
Spirit of God. To walk in Christ takes Christ
in you the hope of glory. That way I shall walk aright
only in Christ. But that means I must decrease. I must decrease. Here's what
it comes down to. We've said it before, we'll say
it again. I'll say it right now. You can't preach Christ too high. And you can't preach man, and
that includes me. That includes you and you and
you, all of us. You can't preach man low enough.
It's not possible. We lack the talent. We can't do it, either one. I
can't preach Christ too high, and I can't preach man too low. Oh, Lord, what did John the Baptist
say about this one who must increase? He that cometh from above is,
and I love that, is above all. Not that he shall be, oh, he's
gonna be great. No, no, he is. And I'm gonna
tell you something, he was great even when John didn't know him. John the Baptist didn't know
him. The one who came before him to prepare the way didn't
know the Christ of God. But here's the thing, he is above
all. He came from above and he is
above all. No exceptions, no complaints,
no questions. He is above all, period. What
about this? Well, he's above it. What about
that? He's above it. What about my
decisions? Oh, he's way above that. What
about my choices, my wants, my desires? He's so far above that
you can't even see him. If you're asking that question,
you don't know what you're doing. He's above all. Heated as of the earth
is what? Earthly. Earthly. And what? Speaks of the earth. What do we say naturally? Only
about what we know. I like what Earl said, above
the earth, earthy, above the dirt, dirty. That's what the
word earth means. It's of the ground. You know
why? Because we're worms. Naturally, we're worms. Wriggling,
useless, as far as we're concerned, worms. He's far higher than that
above us. He must increase and I must decrease. He that comes, and John even
narrows it down, he that comes from heaven. He comes from above
is what he says first. He's coming from heaven. He's
above all. He's above all. The Father has
given him power. He says in John 17 too, and as
thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give
eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal. That they might know thee. And the only true God and Jesus
Christ whom thou hast sent. What's that mean to know God
and to know Christ? It's to know this, he must increase
and I must decrease. You understand, you're gonna
get a taste of it. You may not get a lot, especially
not at first, but he's gonna show you just a taste of how
low you are. And you're gonna need to decrease
below that. You understand? I have, I have changing standards. God doesn't. I have changing
standards. See, there was a time I thought
I was up here. And there's a time God showed
me I was here, and actually, no, I'm below the floor. I'm
in the dirt, dirty, of the earth, earthly. Why? He must increase, but I must
decrease. That's just as true today as
it was 2,000 years ago. You know, esteem for God is far
more important than self-esteem. I'm not gonna go into self-esteem. But I will tell you this, before
God, we don't have any. He must increase, but I must
decrease. I wrote down a statement a few
weeks ago, and I just let it sit there for a while. Because
after I wrote it down, I thought, wait a minute, I don't know if
I want to say that. I was pretty sure about it when I wrote it
down. I don't know, Walter, if this ever happens to you. You write something
down, and then you think about it, and I don't know if I want
to say that or not. So I've been thinking about it, and I do. I've been thinking about it.
I've let it sit there for a while on my desk, and I think it's
true. I can tell you this, and I can
tell you the gospel, right? But here's the thing, you will
never hear the gospel of my salvation until you have heard the gospel
of your salvation. I think that's true. I had to
ponder on it, like I said. I'll say it again. I can preach
till I'm blue in the face, but you're never gonna hear the gospel
of my salvation until you've heard the gospel of your salvation.
And it's the same gospel. If our gospel be hid, it's hid
to the lost. It's the same gospel. My gospel,
your gospel, it better be Christ's gospel. or it's no gospel. Because this thought came from
pondering this. It's in Ephesians one verse 12
through 14. That we should be to the praise
of his glory who first trusted in Christ, in whom ye also trusted,
after that ye heard the word of truth, what? The gospel of
your salvation. I remember that. in whom also
after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit
of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the
redemption of the purchased possession under the praise of his glory.
The gospel of your salvation is the gospel of my salvation. I may have known about it before
you, I may have known about it after you, but there's only one
gospel. And the results of that gospel
are this, one of them is, he must increase and I must decrease. Because here's the thing, until
you with circumcised ears hear, until you with circumcised eyes
see, and until you with a circumcised heart understand the gospel of
Christ, you won't understand any gospel. What did Stephen say? You do always resist the Holy
Ghost, just like your fathers did. Why? Because they had uncircumcised
heart and ears. But when you can hear and see
and understand, you'll know the gospel of your salvation. You
will. Then you can grow in the grace
and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. and
you can learn. He must increase, but I must
decrease. Our Heavenly Father, I'm thankful
again for this time and this place. Lord, help us to be truly
humble of our own selves, to not take pride in our holiness
and humility which come from you. The only holiness we have
is yours. The only righteousness we have
is yours. The only forgiveness we have
is in you. Be with Walter, be with Paul
as they endeavor to preach your word and your gospel and praise
your holy name. In Christ's name we ask, amen.