Good morning everybody. Let's
turn to John chapter 3. John chapter 3, begin in verse
22. He says, After these things came
Jesus and His disciples into the land of Judea, and there
He tarried with them and baptized. And John also was baptizing in
Enon near to Salem because there was much water there. And they
came and were baptized for John was not yet cast into prison.
Now the Lord Jesus and his disciples were somewhere near John and
they were baptizing and Christ himself never baptized. His disciples did. because they
did this by faith in His name and in His Spirit, Christ did
it. Look over at John 4. It says,
verse 1, When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard
that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, though
Jesus Himself baptized not but His disciples. That's an important
principle to understand what John is going to say here in
the rest of this passage, because whatever Christ's servants do
by His Spirit, whatever they do in faith, in His name, it's
by Christ, and Christ is doing it. You know, when He sent the
70 out and He told them, He that receiveth you receiveth Me. If
they hear you, they're hearing Me, and if they reject you, they're
rejecting Me. So Christ didn't baptize, but
when his disciples baptized, it was all the same as Christ
baptizing those that profess Christ. And that's an important
principle here. We see verse 25, here was the
problem. Then there arose a question between
some of John's disciples and the Jews about purifying. Now
John's disciples here are true believers, born of the Spirit
of God, and the Jews here are natural religious men, disciples
of the Pharisee. And these Jews were for the old
covenant ceremonial washings. But you remember how by the tradition
of the elders, they thought they were actually purifying themselves
by washing. They didn't see Christ in these
washings. They thought they were purifying themselves, keeping
themselves from being defiled. And the Lord told them, He said,
it's not that which comes out or what goes into a man is defiling
him, it's what comes from the sin nature, what's coming out
of the heart that defiles. But they didn't see this, so
they have this dispute about it, and they're probably rejecting
baptism, because they weren't familiar with baptism. But we
see what they were trying to do, they were putting John against
Christ, and trying to put Christ against John, and it says in
verse 26, And they came unto John, and said to him, Rabbi,
he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou bearest
witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all come to him." You see
what they're doing here? You know, I said the words world
and all rarely mean all without exception, except they're speaking
about those Christ saves. Then it means all without exception,
because all He shall save. Here's an example. They exaggerate.
All are coming to Christ. Now listen to how John answered
them. Verse 27, John answered and said,
a man can receive nothing. He can take to himself nothing
except to be given from heaven. Now that's the answer to disputes. That's the answer to questions.
He turns them immediately from everything below and turns them
to Christ. He turns them to God above. That's
the answer right there. He's turning them away. There's
no point disputing with a sinner over spiritual things. No point
arguing with them over spiritual things. John didn't do that.
He just immediately declared the truth. A man can't have any
spiritual understanding unless it be given him from God. A man
can know nothing except it be given him from God, so there's
no point disputing with a sinner. He turns immediately straight
to God and says, a man can receive nothing except it be given from
above. God has to draw sinners and God has to give sinners a
heart to believe and He has to make Christ everything to us.
We can't receive anything except He give it to us. And so that's
the answer to this dispute. And John is saying to them, every
spiritual blessing he had, every temporal blessing he had, everybody
that came to hear him preach, everybody that believed the things
he preached, everybody that he baptized, that confessed Christ,
he's saying nothing, a man can take nothing to himself except
it's given him from God. God did all this. God did all
this. He's telling them, I'm not envious
of my Lord's ministry. I rejoice in it. I wouldn't have
anybody come in to hear me preach. Anybody believe in what I preach
except it be given from God. And so when Christ's disciples
baptized, it was Christ Baptizing them. When John preached, it
was Christ preaching. When men believed, it was Christ
giving the Spirit to believe. All of this was of the Lord.
That's what John is saying. He said, verse 28, he just keeps
pointing them away from himself and away from them and to Christ. Look, verse 28, you yourselves
bear me witness that I said I'm not the Christ, but that I'm
sent before Him. That was the answer to their
question. He turned them straight to Christ, away from self and
away from everything else. John declares he had received
nothing, including his commission to preach Christ, except it was
given from Christ. Christ sent him. Christ sent
him. And he gives an illustration
here to show the purpose of the church, the purpose of his ministers,
and this is what Our purpose is right here. He gives an illustration
of it. He said in verse 29, ìHe that
hath the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom
which standeth and heareth him rejoiceth greatly because of
the bridegroomís voice. This my joy therefore is fulfilled.î
He uses the illustration of a best man in a wedding. And heís saying
thatís what he was like. He was like the best man in a
wedding. And in those days, the responsibility of the best man
was to go get the bride and bring the bride to the bridegroom. And when the bridegroom saw the
bride and rejoiced over her, the best man was, he rejoiced,
because the bridegroom rejoiced in his bride. And so John says,
and this my joy therefore is fulfilled. He said, this is what
I'm here to do. I'm here to preach Christ, to
glorify Him, and through the Spirit that He sends, He's going
to bring His people, His bride to Him. And I'm rejoicing that
they're being brought to Him. He wasn't envious of anybody
going to Christ. He's saying that's the mission.
That's the mission. That's mission accomplished.
John would have been happy if every one of his disciples had
left him and went to the Lord Jesus. That's his whole point
in preaching was to exalt Christ and see God's elect brought to
Christ. But also when he gives that illustration,
he's declaring the Lord Jesus is the Son of God because all
through the Old Testament when you read about Jehovah being
the husband. That's who the husband is, is
Jehovah, the Lord God. And so by him speaking of Christ
here as the bridegroom, he's declaring Christ is the Son of
God. He's the Christ. He is Jehovah
God in human flesh, is who he is. That's who he is. He came
down from heaven and he's the one who's calling his bride to
himself. So when you You see a local church
that the Lord's increasing. That's not a reason to be envious
because as Christ adds to a local church, He's adding to us. He's
adding to the whole church. And that's a reason to rejoice
if sinners are being brought to Christ. That's the whole goal. Now look at verse 30 again. Look
what He does here. And this is an important principle.
He says, He must increase, but I must decrease. Now, there's
four musts here in John 3. Really three, I would say. Because
back up in verse 7, we have the spiritually dead sinners must.
He said, you must be born again. We must be born from above or
we can't know God. Verse 14, he says, as Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up. We could not earn a righteousness
and could not work out a righteousness. Christ had to go to the cross
and die in the place of his people to justify us, make us righteous
before God so God could receive us. But look at this next must
here that John says, he must increase, I must decrease. This
is what's going to happen in the believer's heart. Christ
must increase, I must decrease. The Lord Jesus becomes increasingly
more all in all as he grows us in grace and knowledge of him. That's the whole point of everything
that's in the gospel and in all the precepts of the gospel. Everything
is to turn us from us to Christ because Christ has to become
everything. And he will increasingly more
become everything. And as he becomes all, in direct
proportion as he increases in the hearts of his people, we're
going to decrease in the estimation of ourselves. That's true growth
in grace. That's true growth in the knowledge
of Christ. And as he does this, he becomes
the one constraint. He becomes the one constraint
for everything we do. He becomes the reason we do what
we do. We want Him to have the glory
and not us. And He'll use everything. He'll
show you your sins and He'll show you He alone is your righteousness.
And as He's doing this, every time He's making Himself to increase
more and more and making us to decrease in our estimation of
ourselves. And that's true growth in grace.
And we have to, he has to increase and we decrease in our dealings
with one another. And the more and more we see
Christ is the head of the church, the more and more we see he is
the master, that he alone is able to make us stand, the more
and more he will increase and we will point one another to
Christ away from everybody else. Just like John's doing right
here. Because we see he's the only one that can do it. He's
going to do it through this word. And that's not seeing ourselves
as being able to do anything. When we point one another to
Christ and weigh on Christ, that's saying, I can't do it. Christ is the only one that can.
That's seeing him as increasing and you as decreasing. And he
shows that's true humility, that's what the Spirit of God produces.
Now listen to this next word of John, and we see just how
much Christ had increased in his heart and he had decreased.
He said, verse 31, 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. Look at verse 34. For he whom
God has sent speaketh the words of God, for God gives not to
spirit but measure unto him. He's talking about the Lord Jesus
here, and this was his gospel. The Lord Jesus came down from
heaven. He is above all. He is God in
human flesh. That's who he is. He came down
and He declared the truth by the Spirit of God. God gave the
Spirit to our Lord Jesus without measure as a man. Now as God,
He's one with the Spirit of God. But as a man, representing His
people, the Lord did everything for Him He does for His people.
He poured out the Spirit upon Him without measure. And if we're
going to be born of the Spirit, it's going to come from Christ.
He's going to give the Spirit. We're dust. We speak of the earth. We're earthly. We're dust. John
spoke by the Spirit of God. He preached by the Spirit of
God. But he's saying, but I'm just earthy. I'm just dust. Though we speak by the Spirit
of God and believe by the Spirit of God, we see so little. We're
just dust. But the Lord Jesus Christ came
from God. He came from heaven. He saw first
hand and whatever he speaks in this book is what he saw. He's
testifying the one way to God and when you hear him preach,
what he's declaring is, I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. No man comes to
the Father but by me. That's what the Lord Jesus is
declaring. That's what He's manifesting. And He got this, this is directly
from the Father. If you want to know anything
about how God saved, look to Christ. He's the revelation of
God. He's the whole counsel of God. Everything God has to say
to sinners, everything God has for His chosen sinners is in
Christ. and Christ is everything. He
is the righteousness and the holiness and the producer of
the fruit in his people and the preserver of his people, the
one who ministers the gospel to his people, the one who grows
us and makes himself to increase in our estimation and ourselves
to decrease in our estimation. Everything is from him. If you
want information about a town, it is good to speak to somebody
who has been to that town. and knows it firsthand. That's
what John said. He came from heaven. What he's
declaring to us in the Word of God is exactly as it is. There's no question about it.
Men want to question the Scriptures. How do you know that's true?
We know it's true because God came down and told us. He spoke
it. He saw. He knows. He came to
reveal the wisdom of God and the truth of God and He is that
truth. We see Him. We know Him. We believe
Him. because He is the truth. Here's
the amazing thing, look back up there at verse 32. He says at the end there, and
no man receives his testimony. Now in comparison to the whole
population, in any generation there's only been a remnant that
was given grace to receive our Lord's testimony. Only a remnant. Today, there's a remnant that
really believes the gospel. But here's the truth of it. But
in ourselves, no man receives his testimony. Without the Spirit
of God, no man receives his testimony. We must be born of God. We must
be taught. There's none righteous. There's
none that understandeth. There's none that seeketh after
God. And you and I that's been born of Him, we won't receive
His testimony even as believers unless the Spirit of God speaks
effectually in our heart. And Christ makes it come in power. And that's the only way we ever
receive His testimony is by this one, by the Lord Jesus. Now,
this is something that's even more amazing is that though we
can't receive it of ourselves, by His grace we do. He says there
in verse 33, he that hath received this testimony hath set to his
seal that God is true. Who's going to receive? Do you
see what John's doing? I know we can, maybe we'll go
back and look at each individual verse here because there's so
much in each of this, but I just want to look at the whole answer
John gave to this disputing that was going on between these believers
and these unbelievers. He didn't waste time. He didn't
speak one word about the baptism. He didn't speak one word about
what their question was. What did he do? He turned them
to Christ and declared the truth of the gospel to them. If they
seek Christ and know Christ, they'll have their question answered.
That's how the question is going to be settled. See that He's
the only one that can wash you. He's the only one that can purify
the defiled. We've got to be robed in His
righteousness and born of His Spirit. But he says here, when
you're born of God, who's born of God? Who's going to be born
of God? Scripture says, as many as He ordained to eternal life
believe. That's who's going to believe.
Those God chose and gave to Christ, who Christ redeemed, He's going
to send the Spirit to them, and they're going to believe Him.
And when they do, when you do believe Christ, it's because
we have the witness within us. He's entered in. He's the witness.
The Spirit's the witness. He's entered in and you have
the witness within you. So that you see by faith and
you know by faith and you testify. And when you believe, you're
setting to your seal. You're certifying to everybody
around you that this word is true. Christ is true, what He
spoke to us is true, and we're certifying this is true. I know
this, I've seen this, it's true. And listen to 1 John 5.10, the
apostle said, He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness
in himself. He has the witness in himself. He that believeth not God hath
made him a liar. because he believeth not the
record that God gave of his son. That's what John the Baptist
said. When you believe God, you're going to know His words true. You're going to know He is salvation.
And by the Spirit of God, we know God is true. And we speak
that. The Lord said back up there in
John 3 to Nicodemus, we speak that we've seen. We speak that
we know. We testify what we've seen and
what we've heard, what we know. because the Spirit is within.
We have the witness. So John is telling them here,
he is telling them, Christ, a man can't receive anything except
to be forgiven to him from above. And he says, and the one who
came down to give all things to his people is the Son of God,
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's who this is that you are
trying to pit me against, John said. I am not envious of him.
He is the bridegroom. He's the one that came to save
his elect bride. I want you to hear Him. I want you to go to Him. I want
you to be washed in His blood and washed in His Spirit and
washed in the water of baptism confessing Him. And if you do,
John said, it's because you got the witness in you. You've been
born of God. He's given you a heart to believe Him. That's how a
man is washed. It's not by washing your hands.
It's not by doing moral deeds and outward form of religion. It's by the Spirit in the heart. It's by Christ washing us in
His blood. Now here's the sum of the matter. Verse 35, the Father loveth the
Son and has given all things into His hand. Everything is
in His hand. From the beginning God chose
His Son, He gave everything into His hand. Christ created the
world. When God said, let us make man
in our image, He made man in His image, in the image Christ
would come forth in. We think Christ came forth in
the image of man. Man was made in the image He
was going to come forth in. And He did that. He's the voice
walking in the garden. He's the one who slew the lamb,
picturing himself, and robed our parents in the garden. All
through the scriptures, the Lord Jesus is the mediator between
God and men, and He's the one who's everything's in His hand. And then He came and redeemed
His people from the curse of the law by laying down His life
for us. And he gets the preeminent glory
for that. And he went back to glory and
now he's sending the gospel, he's calling out his people,
and he will not lose any. He's going to keep us and carry
us through to glorify his people with him in the end. All things
are in his hand. And here's the matter. Here it
is, verse 36. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. not washing, not your form and
ceremony. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. Man believes under righteousness.
And he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the
wrath of God abideth on him. I pray God to make that so real
in the hearts of somebody here who does not believe Him. You
don't believe on Christ. There's one payment for sin.
That's Christ. That's the one payment God will
receive. And it's been made. And without
Christ, we're going to meet God and owe Him a debt that we can't
pay. And it's going to result in wrath
for eternity. That wrath's on us, except we're
in Christ. Just like Noah went in the ark,
and his family went in that ark, and God shut them up in that
ark, and when the rain fell, he didn't fall on them, because
they were in the ark. And if you're in Christ, judgment's
been settled. But if you're outside of Christ,
that wrath abides on you. And you're going to meet God,
and that's a serious, serious thing. You reject Christ, there
remains no more sacrifice for sin. Just fearful looking to
a judgment. Imagine whenever the rain started
falling and those outside of the ark, how fearful they became. How high that water rose, how
fearful they became. Well, the man that rejects Christ,
he's the only salvation. When you reject Christ, there's
no more salvation. But he that believeth on the
Son hath everlasting life. It's Christ only. It's trust
in Christ only. It's not faith plus anything
else. Not Christ plus anything else. Christ only. Christ only. He must increase. We must decrease. We must decrease to the point
that we don't see anything we do contributing anything to this
thing of salvation. It's all Christ. When you brought
there Neither your good that you do nor your sin that you
do is going to move you from Him because He's the only one
that saves. It's Christ alone. I pray God
to give us... One, I pray God to give us grace
to believe Christ. I pray He will increase and we
decrease. and just rest in Christ. But
two, I pray God give us, as he does that, this will be the case.
Any dispute, any question, don't argue with religious folks. It
does no good. It does absolutely no good. Do
what John did right here. Turn them to Christ. Point them
to Christ. And let's do that for each other.
This is the answer to every problem, every dispute, every question,
every trial, everything. turn one another to Christ. Everything
else is an exercise in futility, really. If John would have met
them on the ground of this dispute over washing, they'd have left
there, maybe one of them saying, well, I believe him, and the
other one saying, I don't believe him. But preach Christ to them,
because if he sends a spirit, Christ is going to increase and
man's going to decrease. Christ is going to become all.
He'll have the witness in himself, and he'll believe the Son, and
he'll have everlasting life. And that's what matters. That's
what matters. Everything else is our flesh
trying to glory, is what it is. We can't, we got no room to glory,
and a man can't receive anything except to be given him from above.
I pray God will bless that. Let's stand together. Father, we thank you for your
Word. We thank you for your free grace. Thank you for your salvation accomplished by your
Son. And Lord, we pray today that
our gracious Head would speak and teach us these things and
bring us to rejoice in Him and Him alone. Thank you, Lord, for
our brethren and the ones that traveled and brought them back
safely. And Lord, thank you for your mercy to those that have
been sick and pray you continue to keep us and bless us and deliver
us through the trials and keep us looking straight to Christ
alone. Forgive us, Lord, our sins, and we ask it in Christ's
name. Amen.