We're going to begin in verse
22 of John chapter three, if you'd like to follow along in
your Bibles. And I've entitled this message, A School for Preachers. A School for Preachers. Now, before you who are not preachers
close your Bibles and turn me off, listen to me. This is just
as much a school for you Because not only do preachers need to
be taught in the Word of God what to preach, hearers need
to be taught from the Word of God what to hear. When they hear
one preach, you listen to preachers, you listen to different preachers.
You're listening to me right now, hopefully, and you listen
to others. What should you be hearing? The
Bible tells us, Christ told his disciples to be careful what
you hear and to be careful how you hear, that is your attitude
in hearing. And the Bible also tells us in
the book of John, 1 John chapter four, to test the spirits, whether
they be sin of God. In other words, test the preachers
by the word of God. Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 8 20,
to the law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to
this word, there's no light in them. So it's impending upon
preachers to learn what to preach and how to preach it. But it's
impending upon you as hearers to learn what to hear and how
to hear it. So just because the message is
entitled to school for preachers doesn't mean that you don't need
to hear it. You do need to hear it. Now, the reason I'm taking
this title and this approach to the last part of John chapter
three is this. Years and years ago, back during
the early 80s, I attended a preacher's school at the 13th Street Baptist
Church in Ashland, Kentucky. And that school was so helpful
to me in understanding the scriptures and understanding what and how
to preach the word of God, what to look for, what to major on. And years later, Somebody asked
me after I'd been in ministry for several years, after I'd
been pastor of churches, someone asked me if I'd ever thought
about starting a school for preachers. And I never had. And in fact,
in the places that I preach, I don't think there's enough
young men who feel like they might be led or called into the
ministry to form a preacher school. But I did think about, if I were
going to have a preacher school, what would I do? And I began
to think about John the Baptist and his ministry. And I began
reading passages like this John chapter three and other passages. And I told somebody, I said,
if I were to start a preacher school, I'd call it the John
the Baptist School for Preachers. And that's the approach I'm going
to take here. Look at verse 22 of chapter three. It says, after
these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judea. Now this is after the Lord had
met Nicodemus and talked to Nicodemus, told Nicodemus, you must be born
again or you cannot see or enter the kingdom of God, the kingdom
of heaven. And after he had spoken more
to Nicodemus concerning the gospel, of salvation by the grace of
God in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. How he'd show the reality
of condemnation and justification. The evidence of being condemned
is what? Not believing in the Lord Jesus
Christ. He said back in verse 18, he
that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth
not is condemned. And the evidence of being justified
before God. is believing on the Lord Jesus
Christ. What is it to be justified? It's
to be forgiven of all our sins on a just ground. And what is that just ground
of forgiveness? It's the blood of Jesus Christ. That's the full payment for all
our sin debt. His blood cleanses us from all
sin. That's His righteousness. His
blood, His death, His cross is the same as His righteousness
and justification is not only being forgiven of all our sins
based upon a just ground, the blood of Christ, it's also being
declared righteous, not guilty, and even righteous in God's sight
based upon a just ground, the blood of Christ. We're justified
by His blood. He is our righteousness. We're
made the righteousness of God in him. And so Christ had explained
all that to Nicodemus and his disciples heard it. And then
after that, he came with his disciples into the land of Judea,
look at verse 22, and there he tarried or waited with them and
baptized. Now there he baptized. And it
says in verse 23, and John also was baptizing in Enon near Salem. This is John the Baptist. Because
there was much water there. Why did he need so much water?
Because he wasn't sprinkling. He wasn't pouring. He was doing
what baptism means. He was immersing in water. That's
what baptism is. It's not pouring or sprinkling,
and it's not sprinkling or pouring on infants. It's believer's baptism,
where we are immersed under the water and brought up out of the
water, signifying our faith in Christ, His death, His burial,
His resurrection, identifying with Him publicly. So you folks
who are into infant baptism or into sprinkling or pouring, you're
wrong. That's not what this is. The
word baptism means placed into. We're baptized into Christ, we're
placed into Christ. When? Before the foundation of
the world. God put us in him, made him our surety, imputed
our sins to him, and his righteousness to us, and then sent him into
the world to die for us. We were immersed into his death,
placed into his death legally, redemptively. He died, I died. He was buried, I was buried.
He arose again, I arose again. Why? Because he did it for me.
And then we're placed into him spiritually when the Holy Spirit
brings us by the new birth to have life and to believe in him. And then we confess that physically
in believer's baptism, being immersed into water. And that's
why John needed much water. And it says here in verse 24,
for John was not yet cast into prison. And then look at verse
25, it says, Then there arose a question between some of John's
disciples and the Jews about purifying. Now, first of all,
we need to understand that the Lord Jesus Christ did not follow
the man-made customs that the Pharisees had concocted for ceremonial
washings. They actually, they really added,
there were ceremonial washings under the law of Moses, but the
Pharisees added to that. You had to do this, you had to
wash here and all that, and it was ceremonial washings that
they really believed made them spiritually clean, and that was
not true, it didn't. Christ kept the law of Moses
perfectly. But he did not follow the traditions
of men developed by these unbelievers like the Pharisees, these unbelieving
Jews. And this issue of purifying,
the word purify, purifying, it's the word catharsis, it means
healing. We get our word cathartic from
it. Some doctor gives you a medicine
that heals you. And so it means cleansing. And
here's the question that comes up whenever this issue of purifying
comes up. What is it that purifies us from
sin? What cleanses us from sin? What can wash away my sins? That's
the question, isn't it? Job, or one of Job's friends
asked that question when he asked this question in Job 25 four. Listen to this. How can man be
justified with God That's legal justification. Or how can he
be clean that is born of woman? Behold, verse five, behold even
to the moon and it shineth not, yea the stars are not pure in
God's sight. How much less man that is a worm
and the son of man which is a worm. What can wash away my sins? Proverbs
30 and verse 12, listen to this. There is a generation that are
pure in their own eyes. That's our generation, a false
religionist, and yet is not washed from their filthiness. So what
is it that washes away our sins? The waters of baptism cannot
wash away our sins. The tears of repentance cannot
wash away our sins. Again, what can wash away our
sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. And you remember that
hymn? What can wash away my sins? Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my hope and peace.
This is all my righteousness. That's it. So legal, there's
a legal purification. That's our justification before
God based upon Christ's righteousness and purity. And there is a spiritual
purification within. which is our sanctification by
the Spirit. It's not that we're made righteous
within or perfect within, it is that we are made to look outside
ourselves to Christ for our cleanliness, our purification, our righteousness,
our holiness. The blood of Jesus Christ, the
conscience, Hebrews 10 tells us, is sprinkled clean. by the
application of the blood of Christ. And what is that application?
It's when the Holy Spirit brings us to see our sinfulness and
our depravity and drives us to Christ for righteousness and
holiness in life. Blessed are the pure in heart,
the scripture says. They'll see God. Well, what is
the pure heart? It's the heart of faith. It's
not within myself being perfectly clean, without sin, I'm a sinner,
but it's the pure heart, the heart purified by faith and the
application of the blood of Christ. We'll look at verse 26 now, John
3. And they came unto John, John the Baptist, and said unto him,
Rabbi, Master, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou
bearest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all come
to him. He's getting a gathering of people,
of followers. Now these legalistic unbelieving
Jews, you know what they're doing. They're trying to promote friction
between John's disciples and Christ's disciples by jealousy.
They're all going to him. Now that's natural to men. to
become attached to and follow men rather than Christ in God's
Word. Look over at 1 Corinthians 1,
and I want you to see this because I really believe that this is
one of the main things that true believers, at least professing
believers, need to watch out for. And that is following men
rather than really following Christ. Now, don't get me wrong. Well, listen to what Paul says
here. He says, verse 11, this is 1 Corinthians 1. He says,
for it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them
which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions, divisions,
frictions among you. And what was it about? Well,
now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul. I'm
following Paul. Some say, I of Apollos. I'm following
that Greek preacher, Apollos. And I of Cephas, that's Peter. And then some say, I of Christ.
Now we do follow Christ, but these people here in the division,
what they're actually saying is, well, we don't follow any
preacher, listen to any preacher, we just follow Christ. Well,
that's wrong too. You're to listen to preachers,
men who are gifted and sent of God to preach the word of God,
but your loyalty and worship and homage is not to belong to
them, it belongs to Christ. And so Paul says in verse 13,
he says, is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you, or
were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized
none of you but Crispus and Gaius, lest any should say that I had
baptized in mine own name. And I baptized also the household
of Stephanas. Besides, I know not whether I
baptized any other." And then if you'll look over in the last
part of this verse, or no, rather chapter three, I'm sorry. If
you'll look at chapter three of 1 Corinthians and look at
verse 21, here's the conclusion. 1 Corinthians 3, 21, therefore
let no man glory in men. Don't boast in men. For all things
are yours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life,
or death, or things present, or things to come, all are yours,
that is, all things in salvation, and you are Christ, that is,
that's a possessive. You belong to Christ. If you're
a sinner, saved by grace. You belong to Christ. You don't
belong to some preacher. And Christ is God's. He's the
Savior's Son of God. I heard a man say one time that
he looked at the relationship between a pastor and a congregation
like a marriage. And I told the man, I said, wait
a minute now. The congregation is not married
to the pastor. The congregation and the pastor,
if they're God's people, they're married to Christ, the scripture
says. You've got it wrong. And so go back to John chapter
three. He says, they say, Rabbi, he that was with you beyond Jordan,
who's he talking about? Jesus of Nazareth, to whom thou
bearest witness. Now, they recognize that John
spoke of Christ. The same baptizes us and all
men come to him. And basically, What these Jewish
unbelievers did not count on was how John answered the problem.
If the disciples of John truly followed John's teachings, John's
preaching, ultimately, they would not be disciples of John at all. They'd be disciples of Jesus
Christ. And basically what John is going
to tell them, the very reason that you're troubled is the reason
I rejoice. You're troubled that they follow
him instead of me. Well, that's the reason I rejoice,
that they follow him. And with that in mind, listen
to John the Baptist's school for preachers, a school for preachers. Number one, a preacher has to
be honest before God, honest before his hearers, and honest
with himself. And what is that honesty? I sing
it in a song. I'm only a sinner, just like
you, saved by grace. Only a sinner, saved by grace. This is my story. To God be the
glory. I'm only a sinner. Saved by grace. My Savior is Christ. It's not
me. It's not you. It's not a preacher
who I learned from. It's Christ. That's what I'm
saying. I honestly believe that this
is what David meant when he wrote in Psalm 32, blessed is the man
to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity and whose heart is no
guile. That guile is dishonesty. That
guile is hypocrisy. I've often said that the worst
thing that can happen to any preacher, whether intentionally
or unintentionally, is to gain a following for himself. This is not a church that's named
after a man. And here's what John said. Look
back at John chapter one. Listen to this, here's John the
Baptist's school for preachers. And for you hearers too, listen
to this. John chapter one, look at verse
19. He says, and this is the record
of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to
ask him, who art thou? Who are you, John? Now think about it. John could
have said a lot of things. He could have said this. He said,
well, if you look back in the Old Testament, I'm prophesied
back there. He could have said this. He could
have said, I am the one who baptized Jesus of Nazareth. He could have
said, I'm the last of the Old Testament prophets. Do you know
what he said? Look at it. Who are you, John? Verse 20, and he confessed and
denied not, but confessed, I am not the Christ. That's a good
school for every preacher who preaches Christ to go to. I'm
not your Savior. I'm not the Messiah. I'm not
the righteousness of God. He is. He's my righteousness. I am the righteousness of God
in him. I'm not your merit. I'm not,
listen. And verse 21, he says, they asked
him, what then? What are you? Art thou Elias
or Elijah? And he said, I'm not, I'm not
Elijah. I'm not Elijah resurrected. Art
thou that prophet? What's that a reference to? That's
a reference back in Deuteronomy chapter 18 verses 15 and 18 where
Moses prophesied of one who would come who would be the fulfillment
of all prophecy. John said, that's not me, no,
that's Christ. Verse 22, then they said unto
him, who art thou, that we may give an answer to them that sin
us? What sayest thou of thyself? And then he quoted scripture.
He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make
straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Isaiah. I'm just a voice. I'm just a
messenger boy. How about that? I'm just a signpost. I'm not your destination. I'm
not your savior. Think about that. And look, verse
24, they which were sent were of the Pharisees. They asked
him and said unto him, why baptizest thou then, if thou not be that
Christ, nor Elijah, neither that prophet? And verse 26, listen
to what John said. Now here's the school. Here's
the lesson. John answered them saying, I
baptize with water. Now I can take you back into
this pool and baptize you with water. But there standeth one
among you whom you know not. He it is, verse 27, who coming
after me is preferred before me, whose shoe latchet I'm not
worthy to unloose. You see, this school for preachers
teaches me that I'm not up here to tell you about how worthy
I am because I'm not worthy. I'm not worthy for salvation.
I'm not worthy to receive blessings and benefits. I'm not even worthy
to stand up here and preach to you. Christ is my worthiness. Worthy is the lamb that was slain. That's the worthiness. Let's
talk about him. Let's look to him, you see. That's the issue. And this is
what John is saying. Look back at Matthew chapter
three. This is at the baptism of Christ. And look at verse 11 of Matthew
chapter three. John the Baptist tells him, he
says, I indeed baptize you with water under repentance. That
baptism of John was a signification of repentance. But he that cometh
after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I'm not worthy to
bear. Over there, he said, I'm not
even worthy enough to unloose his shoes, to untie his shoes.
I'm not even worthy to bear him. He shall baptize you with the
Holy Ghost and with fire. What's John saying there? I cannot
cleanse you or make you righteous. I cannot give you life or faith
or make you repent. I don't have the power at all. I don't have a power to birth
you again. I don't have, my power persuasion
cannot bring you into the kingdom of God. I hope you are persuaded,
but if you're persuaded and literally come into the kingdom spiritually,
it's by the Holy Spirit's power, not mine. I can preach till I'm
blue in the face. And if the spirit doesn't work,
when Christ came to him, look here at Matthew three and verse
13, then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized
of him. But John forbade him, saying,
I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?
And Jesus answering said, and him suffered to be so now for
us, thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness, and then he
suffered him. And that's when God said his
testimony. You see, I have no power at all
except that which is given me by God to proclaim the word of
God. I'm a sinner saved by grace.
I'm a dying man preaching to dying men and women. A voice
crying in this wilderness world. I'm pointing you away from me
and to Christ. I'm nothing. Christ is everything. That's the first lesson. Who
am I? Look back over at John three. Look at verse 27 again.
John writes here. John answered and said, a man
can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven. You
yourselves bear me witness that I said I'm not the Christ, but
I'm sent before him. Salvation's of the Lord, not
of the preacher. I know that the Lord uses pitiful
human beings like me, like you, to communicate the gospel. We
have a treasure, but we have it in earthen vessels. Whatever
knowledge I have, it's of God. It's a gift of God's grace. Whatever
gifts I have, it's all a gift from God in Christ. I'm not the
Savior, I'm the messenger sent before Him. That's what John's
saying. We don't have anything to be proud of or glory in but
Christ. and him crucified and risen from
the dead. I have no righteousness but him,
standing before God in a righteousness that I had no part in producing.
It's imputed to me. And from that, I get life from
the dead, which is of Christ. Well, here's number two. Realize
who Christ is. Christ is all. Who am I? I'm
nothing. Who is he? He's everything. Look
at verse 29. John writes here about John the
Baptist. 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 look at what he says in verse
30. He must increase, but I must decrease. The church is the bride of Jesus
Christ. The church is not the bride of
its pastor. The church is married to Christ.
That bride, that wife, includes the pastor. The bride belongs
to Christ, not to the pastor. She was betrothed to him alone
before the foundation of the world, before she even heard
the gospel. And Christ, the bridegroom, is
the central figure in which we glory. God forbid that I should
glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The cross
is the payment of the dowry, the sin debt, and the establishment
of the righteous robe of our wedding garment. Christ has all
responsibility to save me, to care for me, and to bring me
to glory. We're the friend of the bridegroom.
He must increase. I must decrease. I remember hearing
a preacher years ago, he says, preach Christ and then get out
of the way. Get out of the way. Who is Jesus
Christ? Jesus Christ, is God manifest
in the flesh. That's not me. That's not you. We are godly in the sense that
we're sinners saved by grace and put upon a godly life by
the power of our Savior. He is God manifest in the flesh. Who is Jesus Christ? He's the
author and the finisher of our faith. He's our surety. Our sins charged to him. He took
full responsibility to pay our sin debt on the cross. He's our substitute. He took
our place. He was made sin. And he took
our place under the condemnation that we earned and died to pay
that debt. He's our righteousness. I'm not
your righteousness. He's our righteousness. It's
his righteousness imputed to us. And we stand in him. He's our mediator, our advocate. He's seated at the right hand
of God, ever living to make intercession. for us who are sinners. We cannot
be condemned. He's our preserver. He said, no one will pluck them
out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one. He'll
bring us to glory. That's who He is. And so thirdly,
look back at John 3. Realize this, realize who we
are, be honest about who we are, realize who Christ is, Christ
is all. He must increase, we must decrease. Thirdly, realize that this thing
of salvation, this thing of ministry, it's not about me. It's all about
Christ. Again, He must increase. I must decrease. Well, look here. Look over at John chapter 1 one
more time. Let me show you this. Here's John the Baptist embarking
upon the ministry that God had given him. And he says in verse
29, it says, The next day John seeth Jesus come in unto him,
and saith, Behold how eloquent I am. Behold, how many people I baptized. No. Behold, how many people come
and listen to me or buy my books. No. He said, behold, the Lamb
of God, which taketh or beareth away the sin of the world. And the world, there's his elect
all over the world. That's what he said. And it says
in verse 30, This is he of whom I said, after me cometh a man
which is preferred before me, for he was before me." Oh, he
has the preeminence. He was before me. He's from eternity. He has no beginning and no end. And he says in verse 31, and
I knew him not. In other words, I'm at His mercy. My knowledge of Him had to be
given to me because it didn't come naturally, but that He should
be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water.
This is the reason I'm preaching. This is the reason I'm baptizing,
to make Christ known. And it says in verse 32, and
John bear record saying, I saw the spirit descending from heaven
like a dove and it abode upon him and I knew him not, but he
that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me,
upon whom thou shalt see the spirit descending and remaining
on him, the same as he which baptizes with the Holy Ghost. And John says, and I saw, and
bear record that this is the Son. He's the Son of God. He's
the Son of God. Christ is our salvation. Christ
is our righteousness. Christ is our life. And so John
says it's all about him. And then fourthly, here's the
last lesson. Don't follow me. Follow Christ. Now Paul made this statement
to the church at Ephesus. He said this, he said, follow
me as I follow Christ. And that's the issue. Listen
to what I'm saying only as it points you to Christ for salvation. Only as what I say points you
to Christ and his righteousness imputed for justification. Only
as what I say point you to Christ and his power to give life from
the dead and give the gift of faith and repentance and perseverance. Don't follow me just to be following
me, follow Christ. Look at verse 35 of John chapter
one. This is John one now, verse 35.
Again, the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples,
and looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, behold the
Lamb of God, look to Christ. And verse 37 says, and the two
disciples heard him, John, speak, and they followed Jesus. They heard John. They heard John's
words. They heard what John said. but
they follow Christ. That's what I want. That's what
every true preacher of the gospel wants. Follow Christ. Now turn back to John three and
let me just close out by reading these verses. Verse 31, John
wrote, he that cometh from above is above all. He that is of the
earth is earthy. That's us. Speaketh of the earth. He that cometh from heaven is
above all. He's Lord of glory. He's the sovereign of this universe. He's to be worshiped and followed,
not the preacher. Verse 32, what he hath seen and
heard that he testified. He has firsthand knowledge of
the sovereign will and purpose and plan of God. It's all been
revealed to us. And no man receiveth his testimony,
no man by nature will listen to it. In other words, John is
saying there, if I know what he has to say concerning salvation,
and I believe it, it's of God. Even my faith. Faith is the gift
of God. Knowledge is the gift of God.
Didn't get it naturally. Verse 33, he that hath received
his testimony hath said to his seal that God is true. In other
words, if we've received his testimony, what we're saying,
God's true. Let God be true in every man
a liar. And verse 34, for he whom God hath sent speaketh the
words of God. Christ is the embodiment of the
word of God. He's the word incarnate. the word made flesh and dwelt
among us. He is the subject of the written word and the preached
word. For God giveth not the spirit
by measure unto him, the Lord gives the spirit by measure unto
us. We grow in grace and knowledge, but he is the fullness of the
Godhead bodily. And verse 35, the father loveth
the son and hath given all things into his hands. All things are
not put into my hands or any preacher's hands. All things
of salvation, all things of righteousness, of life, of forgiveness, of glory
are put into the hands of one, the Lord Jesus Christ, God manifest
in the flesh. And so verse 36, 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.
My friend, if you go through this life and
never come to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, what
does that say of you? It says that the wrath of God
has always and will always abide, continue on you. You want life everlasting? Well, in order to have life everlasting,
you must have righteousness. You must have forgiveness. Where
are you gonna find that? It's not in the denomination,
it's not in the baptismal waters, it's not in the preacher. It's
all in Christ who is the Lord, our righteousness. It's all in
Christ by whom the forgiveness of sins comes by his blood. It's
all in Christ who gives life to his people. It's all through
him who died, was buried, and arose again for the sins of his
people, for the salvation of his people. May the Lord bless
His word to our hearts.