Oh, that's the speaker there.
Yeah, that's it. Don't be intimidated. You're very easy to shake. If
you saw the look on his face, he'd shake it. I'm used to it. It's a more thing. I'm a little worried about stuff. Yeah. I would be. Alright, we're going to begin
our second service singing out of the softbacks. All right. Number 103. Glory, glory, unforgiven. 103. Glory, glory, I'm forgiven, all
my sins are washed away. Christ, by His great blood atonement,
all my sin has put away. Sin imputed to my Savior when
He died upon the tree. As the substitute for sinners,
God will not impute to me. Glory, glory, I'm accepted, probed
in Christ's own righteousness. I'm a child in the air of heaven,
saved by God's almighty grace. Christ's obedience to the Father
is imputed now to me. In God's sight I'm pure and holy. He declares me so to be. Glory, glory, I'll not perish,
in Christ's hands I am secure. He who saved me sure will keep
me, by God's grace I shall endure. This is not a vain presumption,
I just take Him at His word. Christ has sworn they shall not
perish who believe on me their Lord. Our second hymn will be number
128, In Christ Alone, 128. In Christ alone my hope is found. He is my light, my strength,
my song. This cornerstone, this solid
ground, firm through the fiercest drought and storm. What heights of love, what depths
of peace, when fears are still, when strivings cease. I comforter, I all in all, here
in the love of Christ I stand. In Christ alone, who took on
flesh, the fullness of God in helpless babe. This gift of love and righteousness,
scorned by the ones He came to save. Till on that cross as Jesus
died, The wrath of God was satisfied, for every sin on Him was laid. Here in the death of Christ I
live. There in the ground His body
lay Light of the world by darkness slain Then bursting forth in
glorious day Up from the grave He rose again And as He stands
in victory sin's curse has lost its grip on me. For I am his,
and he is mine, bought with the precious blood of Christ. No guilt in life, no fear in
death, This is the power of Christ in me. From life's first cry
to final breath, Jesus commands my destiny. No power of hell, no scheme of
man can ever pluck me from His hand. Thank you. You may be seated. Good morning, everybody. Let's
read Psalm 124. Psalm 124. If it had not been the Lord who
was on our side, now may Israel say, if it had not been the Lord
who was on our side when men rose up against us, Then they
had swallowed us up quick when their wrath was kindled against
us. Then the waters had overwhelmed us. The stream had gone over
our soul. Then the proud waters had gone
over our soul. Blessed be the Lord who hath
not given us as a prey to their teeth. Our soul is escaped as
a bird out of the snare of the fowlers. The snare is broken
and we are escaped. Our help is in the name of the
Lord, who made heavens and earth. Let's pray. Father, we come to you this morning
thankful for this verse of scripture. Father, that if you'd not been
with us on so many different occasions, the outcome would
have been different if your will had been different. And Father,
we're just thankful that you've watched over all of us through
all the things that we've gone through. and all the things that
we're going to face together as a group and some of the things
we face alone that no one knows about. Father, we just ask that
you watch over the pastor as he brings a message this morning
and watch over us. Father, let us listen and hear
the message that you are bringing to us this morning. And Father,
we just ask that you watch over and care for us all in Christ's
name. Okay, let's turn to John chapter
three. John three verses 22 through
36. Now what is it that makes a believer
faithful? And really a better way to ask
that is who makes a believer faithful? Is it going to be something
that the sinner has that they're able to look at their works and
boast of what they've done to make and to keep themselves faithful
to the Lord? Or is it a work of our God in
grace who makes and keeps his people faithful to him, faithful
to serve him? What we know according to the
scriptures and what our Lord has revealed to us by His Holy
Spirit is that we're made faithful by the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
who makes His people faithful to serve Him, faithful in Him,
faithful to His gospel and to the Lord who saved them. It's
the Lord who does that. We know that by His death, We
see what He's done for the believer in putting away their sin and
making them righteous by His death and justifying them and
sanctifying them by His power. And we see what He's worked in
us by giving us His Holy Spirit, whereby we know God and rejoice
in Him and worship our Lord. And in Revelation 1, verse 5,
we find there in chapters 2 and 3, really, that the Lord Jesus
Christ is the one who speaks to the church and teaches his
church. revealing to them the things
that we have need of knowing concerning our God. And in 1.5,
we find that it's Jesus Christ who is the faithful witness,
right? He's faithful. He is the faithful
servant. He is the faithful witness. He
is the faithful one sent of God to make his people what we are
by doing for them and what he works in us. That's how we're
made faithful to the Lord and to serve him. And in other parts
of our relation, he's called faithful and true, right? So he's a faithful witness. may
hear him fully, gladly trusting all that is revealed to us in
his word concerning him and what he's accomplished for his people. And our Lord, we call him the
faithful witness. We call him faithful and true
because he's earned that. He's earned that reputation.
He's earned those words concerning him. And we rejoice in him and
glorify him in this because he, because of what he's done. Peter
writes, 2 Peter 1 17, that he received from God the Father
honor and glory when there came such a voice to him from the
excellent glory, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. He pleases the Father well in
all things and the Father tells us to hear Him. This is my faithful witness whom
I've sent, hear Him. He will bless your souls. He's
the one who is light and life and refreshing for your souls. Hear Him. And so, as the faithful,
well-pleasing, beloved Son, we know that he accomplished redemption
for us. This is what he's done for us.
Hebrews 2.17, wherefore in all things it behooved him to be
made like unto his brethren that he might be a merciful and faithful
high priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation
for the sins of the people. And so the Lord through his word
is teaching his people what Christ has accomplished for us. Religion
teaches us what we do to reconcile ourselves to God and to please
God and to to abate his anger and wrath toward us. That's what
religion is all about, is what you do, either by works or by
will. And the scriptures, the Lord
is revealing to us what Christ has done for his people freely
in grace and in mercy by his sacrifice unto the Father for
the sins of his people there on the cross to make atonement
for our sins that we might be reconciled to God. And then we
see what He's worked in us, which is He's given us the gift of
the Holy Spirit, whereby we are given an understanding and a
knowledge of the things of our God. He makes us to know what
we have need of knowing. He makes us to know our need
of Him and that He satisfies the Father well in all things. And thereby, we having the Spirit,
which all men do not have. All men have not faith, and faith
is a fruit of the Spirit. And so we walk by the Spirit
of Christ, whereby we know Him, and rejoice in Him, and fellowship
with Him, and are made righteous by Him, being led in paths of
righteousness. So this faithfulness is what
we find accomplished in this servant, John the Baptist. Our
Lord is the one who makes John the Baptist this faithful servant
that we have before us here in the labor that the Lord has called
him unto. He had a small little window
of ministry and he was faithful in it, not by himself, not because
he's so awesome, but because the Lord is awesome. The Lord
has done this for him and in him. And that's what we have
here. And as the Lord did it in John,
that's what He does for every one of you, every one of us. We have what we have because
the Lord has given it to us. And we're called to what we're
called to because the Lord has called us to this work. And so
John, we see examples of what we're talking about. He's humble
so that he exalts Christ. He doesn't exalt himself. He's
exalting his Lord when he's been sent to minister to the people. And then he's faithful in his
association with Christ. He's a friend of Christ. He associates
gladly, freely with the Lord Jesus Christ. He's not ashamed
to be associated with him. And then we find that he dies
to self. He's getting less and less. He's
decreasing, all the while his friend, his savior, the bridegroom,
the one who receives the bride, He's being exalted. He's increasing before the eyes
of the people. All right, so I've titled this,
The Faithful Servant. The Faithful Servant, okay? So
go to verse 22, John 3, verse 22. After these things came Jesus
and his disciples into the land of Judea, and there he tarried
with them and baptized. All right, now just look real
quick at John 4, verse 2. John 4, 2, though Jesus himself
baptized not, but his disciples, his disciples. And so what the
Lord is teaching us there, the understanding that we're to receive
from these beginning, these opening verses here, is that our Lord
is pleased to dwell in the midst of his people and to execute
his will through his people, right? He uses men and women.
to fulfill his will in the earth. There are some things that he
does and takes care of that we don't have any part in, and then
there are things that he raises us up and he stirs up our heart,
he gives us his spirit, he calls us to this work through the salvation
he's provided for us in Christ, and sends us to labor in the
field, in and amongst his people. When we do that, when you that
love the Lord and love his people and minister, right, that have
the authority of Christ to minister to one another, right, to love
one another, to love your neighbors as yourself and to minister the
gospel to them and just to be a help and a kind friend and
have fellowship with them, it's by the Lord's authority and it's
as though Christ himself were doing it. And that's what he's
shown us. He didn't have to baptize the
people himself. His disciples baptized those
people, just as John baptized believers, all right? And so
Luke 10, 16 says, he that heareth you, heareth me. This is our
Lord speaking. He that hears what you're saying,
they hear me. And it says, he that despiseth
you, despiseth me. And he that despiseth me, despiseth
him that sent me. All right? When we're doing the
work of the Lord, it's as though the Lord's doing it. He's doing
that work, and that should be a humbling thought for any of
us who do anything in the name of the Lord. And then again,
he says in 2 Corinthians 5.20, now then, we are ambassadors
for Christ as though God to beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's
stead, be ye reconciled to God. We're ambassadors for Christ.
We carry, when we're made to confess him before men were a
testimony of him. And that's another humbling thing,
that should be a humbling thing to us and make us mindful of
that. So when I ask who makes a man
faithful, we speak with understanding, it's the Lord. It's the Lord. Apart from him, I'm nothing.
I'm not faithful. I can't do this work. Apart from
him, it's the Lord who makes a man or a woman faithful in
the Lord, okay? And so, you that have things
to do, you that have a heart to minister and to labor, do
it. Do it mightily as unto the Lord.
Do it rejoicing and with gladness. Do it with cheerfulness and with
diligence because the Lord's given it to you to do and he's
put it in your heart to do that labor. Listen to 1 Corinthians
1, 8 and 9, Paul says, speaking of the Lord,
who shall also confirm you unto the end that ye may be blameless
in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful. God is faithful. If he's called
you, he's faithful and he shall continue the work that he's begun
in you until that day when Christ returns. And if we're around
to see that day when Christ returns, we'll be very thankful that he
is faithful to us. In Thessalonians, the people
were troubled because they thought the day of the Lord was at hand.
That tells me that it's going to be difficult, trying days,
even for believers. Even for believers. So you that
are resting in the Lord, you'll be thankful. You're thankful
now, and you'll be thankful that you're His, right? So, God is
faithful by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of His Son,
Jesus Christ, our Lord. All right, and so therefore,
we're made, this faithfulness that we have in serving the Lord,
and being gathered together, and fellowshipping, and encouraging
one another, and praying for one another, and speaking kindly
to one another, all these things, we do this because of what Christ
has done for us and what he's worked in us. And so we're mindful
of his work and we rejoice because it means that God has brought
us into this fellowship with himself. We are made partakers
of the body of Jesus Christ by whom we serve and minister to
one another. All right, now, in John 3, 23
and 24, John also was baptizing in Enon, near to Salem, or to
Jerusalem, because there was much water there, and they came
and were baptized. For John was not yet cast into
prison. Now, just since we're coming
across it, let me just say, notice that they were baptizing in a
particular place because there was much water there. And that
indicates to us that this word baptism, which has been transliterated
in the King James here, that it actually has meaning. It actually
signifies or means to dip or to immerse. And so if you intended
to baptize somebody, you looked for much water, because if you
only were going to sprinkle or pour water, then you wouldn't
need much water. But we are to go down. into that
water, and I believe what the scriptures teach us is that it's
a type, it's a picture, it's our identification with the Lord
Jesus Christ who died, and we're told in the scriptures that when
He died, we were in Him, we died in Him. When He died unto the
law, we died unto the law. When He died under the wrath
of God, we died under wrath of God. He did all that work for
us and in Romans 6 verse 4 it says, therefore we are buried
with him in baptism. Right, we're immersed in that
grave. When you die and go into the grave you go completely into
that grave and we're buried with him by baptism into death. That,
like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of
the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." So
that watery baptism that we go into, we're immersed in that
watery grave, and just like Christ was buried in the grave, And
when he rose, that's a picture that we rose in him. And so when
we come up out of that water, we're raised again unto newness
of life in Christ. It's a picture, right? It's what
we're testifying, we're confessing, I died with Christ and I was
buried with Christ and I'm raised again. And he shall return for
me and resurrect my body one day when he's pleased to come
again, all right? That immersion by baptism, it's
a faithful work. It's a faithful work of he that
administers that baptism, and it's a faithful work of you that
are baptized according to the work and the will of the Lord,
you that receive the testimony of God. Now next we see John
the Baptist, he's tempted. He's tempted. You wouldn't know
that he's tempted, but I mean, he's blessed of the Lord. but
they come tempting him to try and create a division between
John and the Lord. So verse 25 and 26, then there
arose a question between some of John's disciples and the Jews
about purifying, right? And so these are those Jews that
were sent earlier to John to ask him, what are you doing?
Who gave you this authority to do these things? And now they're
coming about purification. And John, John the Apostle, John
has been pointing this out several times so far in his book. We're
only in the third chapter and he said, you know, there was
water pots of stones set there according to the purification
of the Jews. And then he speaks of the Passover
of the Jews. And now here they are arguing
about purification. All right. They came unto John,
verse 26, and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee
beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold, the same baptizeth,
and all men come to him. Right. And so these, these are
the Jews that have rejected the testimony of God, but now they're
acting like they care. And really, they're just carrying
gossip, right? They're just carrying some news like, oh, by the way,
the one whom you bore witness to, he's surpassing you. He's
actually, you were the first one. And now he's taking what
you were doing, this baptism, and he's getting more people
than you. You're gonna let that, is that right? Should the second
one be greater than the first? And so they're stirring up jealousy
and contention among the brethren. They're trying to find, you know,
putting in the thin edge of the wedge, you know, to get in there
and separate those brethren on that little thing there. And
Paul, you know, would say, you know, when he was speaking about
forgiveness of a brother there in the church, he said, we're
not ignorant of Satan's devices. We know how he operates. He finds
any little thing, just get in there and just break up. the
unity and the harmony and the love that the brethren have. And so that's 2 Corinthians 2.11.
We're not ignorant of his devices. We know how he works. And so
we guard against it. We don't want to become victims
of his pernicious, evil ways. And so a carnal-minded person,
someone that's walking in the flesh, and we all carry this
flesh about with us, they'd be It would affect them. It would
be hard for them to hear, but we see the grace of God shining
in John, shining forth in John. He's bearing the testimony that
God has been gracious to him. He doesn't fall for what they're
trying to do in separating him from Christ or having something
that they could take to the people and say, see, these two don't
even agree with each other. They're fighting now. That's
not the Messiah there. But John 3.27, John answered
and said, a man can receive nothing except to be given him from heaven. All right. And so he's he's saying
there, who is it that makes a man a brother or sister in Christ
who makes them faithful? It's the Lord. We're not going
to have anything to boast in. The Lord's going to going to
do this work in them. And he's going to receive all
the glory and the praise so that he gives a very gracious response. What I have, I have by the hand
of the Lord. And that's a good thing to remember.
You know, most of you have your own businesses, so you are the
top person generally in your businesses. But, you know, when
I was at work in business, there were people below me and people
above me. You know, and I advanced certain
things. I had times where I was recognized
and I received accolades and did well and, you know, in work. And then there were times where
other people after me, who came in after me, younger than me,
they advanced and advanced beyond me. Right? But that's just, I
have no one to blame but myself. You know, when I look at it from
a human perspective, it's me. It was my faults and my weaknesses
and my shortcomings. Had I been know, better in certain
areas, I would have advanced in those things. But it was all
according to the Lord. And the Lord makes you, you know,
thankful for what you do have. And I can see now I'm thankful
for my shortcomings because I'm glad I didn't advance and become,
you know, VP or something like that in the company. That's good.
It was a blessing to me because it probably would have been harder
to leave such a thing. But the Lord was in that work. And what We see what John's saying
is you can receive nothing except the Lord give it to you. Each of you has what you have
because the Lord has given it to you and be thankful. If someone's
better than you at a certain skill, great, let them have it.
That's wonderful. Approve of it and be glad for
them. let that envy and jealousy eat you up. And so John here,
he gives all the glory to God, and he understood the ministry
that he has. It's ordained of the Lord. He
just wanted to be faithful in what the Lord had put into his
hand. And it didn't matter if it was
greater or smaller. He was happy in what the Lord
had done. And so John here, he contents
himself with God's will And that's because he's just being faithful
with the Lord has given him. And that's really, you know,
when you are faithful with what's been given to you, oftentimes
more will be given to you when you're just faithful with the
little that you do have. All right, now in verse 28, John
says to them, ye yourselves bear me witness. You were here when
I said that I'm not the Christ, but I'm sent before him. They
were trying to get in there that you're the predecessor. You're the first one. You should
be the greatest. And this man should be your follower.
And he's saying, no, I told you I'm not the Christ. That's the
Christ. I'm just sent to do my part. And I just had this little time
here where I'm supposed to minister and do what the Lord sent me
to do. And Peter, I think, gives us
a good word on that. He says, likewise, this is 1
Peter 5, verses 5 and 6. He said, likewise, ye younger.
And Christ is the elder to any one of us. He's the creator.
He supersedes us all, including John. And he says, submit yourselves
unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one
to another and be clothed with humility. When you're humble,
it's hard to be offended. and to get upset or to feel like
your rights are being trampled upon, right? For God resisteth
the proud and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves
therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you
in due time. And John's a great example of
that. He's a humble man not seeking anything for himself. He's just
looking to do what the Lord has sent him to do. And here the
Lord in these scriptures is holding him up to us all as a faithful
servant, one who is faithful in what the Lord has sent him
to do. And we're saying, look at the grace of God shining forth
in this humble man who had just a tiny little ministry and was
here just for a short, short time. And then he was gone. And
yet we're thankful for what John for what John was called to do
and what he did. And so here we are marveling
at the humility of John and just amazed that the Lord blessed
him and gave him such grace in handling himself and what he
had to do. And then we see this happy place
that John takes as a helper and a friend to the Lord. So look
at verse 29. He that hath the bride, this
is John the Baptist speaking, he that hath the bride is the
bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom, that's me, the
friend, he says, would standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly
because of the bridegroom's voice. This my joy therefore is fulfilled."
And John's actually turning it on him and saying, you're bringing
me great news. I'm so focused on what I'm doing
here. I don't even know that I have this small little group
compared to those that are coming to the Lord. But thanks for letting
me know because I'm happy. I'm thankful to know that his
voice is increasing. His voice is getting louder and
louder among the people. He's being exalted among the
people, and I'm decreasing. I'm becoming less and less, all
right? And so, this is what the Lord
is showing us. And the Lord is performing His
gracious work there in and among His people, all right? And so,
for the servant of the Lord, it's good for us to see that
the servant of the Lord is interested in exalting Christ. As Moses
lifted up the serpent on the pole, so that all who looked
to that serpent, when they looked, they lived from the poison that
infected them. That's what we do. Every one
of us who is a friend of Christ, anyone who identifies with Christ
as his friend and willing to associate with Christ It's not
about us, it's about the Lord Jesus Christ. Whatever voice
you have, whatever ministry you have, whatever opportunity, smaller
or great as it may be, just be faithful to Christ and exalt
Him. Speak of what He's accomplished.
Speak of who He is, and He'll draw all men unto Himself. He
said, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men
unto me." That's John 12, I think 32. And so that's what we're
to do, exalt him. And I know when we open our mouth
about Christ, you'll be persecuted. But be a friend of Christ, be
willing to associate with him. And the Lord will bless it. The
Lord will bless that work. as he's called you to that work,
all right? Now, this is exactly what John
does. This is what he means when he
says in verse 30, he must increase, but I must decrease, all right? It's good news to me that you're
seeing more and more of Christ and less and less of me, all
right? Because that's what has to happen. And as our eyes are
fixed upon him, and as we identify with him and bear the fruits
of his grace, That's what people are going to see, is more of
Christ, more of Christ. I mean, your brethren will rejoice
in the gifts that the Lord's given you. They rejoice, but
you know what's in your heart, and you're always confessing
to the Lord, have mercy on me. If they only knew what was in
my heart, Lord, they wouldn't want to talk to me. But the Lord
is gracious to us and kind. And his testimony shines forth
for his people to see, all right? So another thing we see there
is that the more we ourselves look to Christ, the less we fixate
on ourselves, the less we look to at what we're doing and less
we fixate on the things of the world, right? Paul wrote to the
Corinthians, 2 Corinthians 3.18, but we all with open face beholding
as in the glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the
same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the
Lord." And so the Lord, when we're looking at what we do in
building our kingdom, right, it's very easy to stumble and
to get offended and to make things about us. But when our eyes are
looking to the Lord and fixed on Him, we don't trip over the
things of this world the way we did when walking in the flesh,
and it doesn't get us as upset as it used to, and it gets less
and less. The more we behold the face of
Christ, the more we shine forth that same image, looking to Him
and trusting Him, all right? And so, as we look to Him, He's
transforming our desires more and more, and we see that in
John, who wasn't worried about himself, didn't care that his
ministry was shrinking, he was actually thankful to know that
the Lord was blessing his work and people were being gathered
unto him. And so he says in John 3.31,
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 so again, we know religion,
what does religion? Religion spends a lot of time
telling you, I'll show you how you are to live. That's what
religion does. I'll teach you how to be moral.
I'll teach you how to do the right things, go to the right
places, avoid the bad things, and I'll teach you these things.
And here, just slip your head here under this law, this little
yoke here, and I'll help you bear it. I'll tell you how to
bear it. I'm not going to lift a finger to help you bear it,
but I'll tell you what to do. And if you do it, that'll be
your righteousness, right? And what John is saying is, that's
earthly. That's how men of the earth speak,
because that's all that they know, is I've got to do this.
My will has to be that. I've got to cut this out. I've
got to add this in. And this is how I please God
and walk before the Lord, because those are earthly things. And
that's all the earthly carnal person knows and understands,
right? But they don't see their own
heart, that the heart proceed all manner of wickedness. If
we're dwelling in the flesh, this is what we ourselves will
do. And so Christ, he's different
from the earthly teachers. He's from heaven, and he speaks
of heavenly things. He sets our hearts looking to
him, trusting the one whom God has sent, believing him. And
what he does is he reveals the spiritual nature of salvation. And everything that we're seeing
here, when Christ is driving out the money changers, and he's
driving out those people that sold doves and oxen and sheep,
he's showing the sham of religion, and when he's speaking to Nicodemus,
he's revealing to him, you must be born again, which is a spiritual
work that you can't do for yourself. God must do this work for you. He's got to give you spiritual
life. And so this is what Christ is
is revealing to us that by nature, in Adam, what I am by nature
is not set. I can't save myself. I don't
have the wherewithal in me to do that which is righteous and
pleasing to the Lord. But Christ is able. He's God. God alone can do that which is
spiritual and give spiritual life to his people. Christ is
the one that we want exalted in our hearts and in our minds,
because it's Him that gives us spiritual life. It's Him that
instructs us of spiritual things, right? And so Christ is called
the faithful and true witness, and so He testifies, John testifies
of this truth. Now John 3.32, and what he hath
seen and heard, he testified. John's saying, look to Christ,
because Christ is the one telling you what is true and what we
need to hear. And it says, no man receiveth
his testimony. John 3.32, no man receiveth his
testimony. So there again, the truth, the
universal truth, is that every one of us is a sinner. None of
us can save ourselves. None of us can turn that around. We can't change what we are by
nature. because all we are is of the
earth and of the flesh. We need the Savior who alone
comes from heaven and speaks of heavenly things and imparts
his spirit to us, whereby we see and know it's not me, it's
of the Lord. And he does this work, this spiritual
work, in giving me life in himself. But the problem is, apart from
that, left to myself, no man receives his testimony. All right? No man receives his
testimony. But then we come to verse 33, and he says what seems
to be the opposite, right? He that hath received his testimony
hath set to his seal that God is true. And what the Lord's
revealing to us here is that we in ourselves, by our nature,
we all reject the testimony of God. But then we see the grace
of God, which does reveal Christ, he does give a spiritual life
whereby we do receive his testimony. So there's a spiritual seed,
a remnant that the Lord does reveal this to, so that we do
receive his testimony and believe him that speaketh from heaven.
And what does that mean? He hath set to his seal that
God is true. In other words, we're testifying,
Lord, In me dwelleth no good thing, that is, in my flesh dwelleth
no good thing. I have nothing to boast of before
you or to bring to you, to recommend myself to you, Lord, that you
should receive me. But we're testifying that God
has provided in his Son everything that I needed. I couldn't save
myself, I couldn't provide for myself, but you've provided freely
in your son everything necessary for my life and salvation. And so we're testifying that
God's done this. He's the Savior, He's God, He's
Almighty, and He's the one who does this work. And so my righteousness,
it's His righteousness that's being revealed in me. I'm justified
by Him. I'm even sanctified by Him. It's
all His power and His glory, and it's all freely given to
us by Christ, who bears these fruits of righteousness, whereby
we're made faithful unto Him. We bear those fruits of righteousness
by His Spirit. And so to believe on Christ,
to believe on Christ, it honors God, it glorifies God. We're
saying, Lord, you're true. I'm not, but you are, and you've
provided salvation. And therefore, to reject that
word, to not believe, it's dishonoring to the Lord. It's saying, Lord,
you're a liar. I don't believe what you're saying.
I think I'm decent. I think I'm good enough to save
myself. I think I've got this. Maybe I just need a little bit
of religion to help me, but I think I can be okay. And the Lord's
showing us, no, you can't be okay with just a little bit of
religion. You need a transformation. You need the Lord Jesus Christ. You need His righteousness, and
only He keeps you and saves you from the condemnation which cometh
upon the inhabitants of the earth. John 3.34 For he whom God hath
sent speaketh the words of God, for God giveth not the spirit
by measure unto him. We hear life from the Lord Jesus
Christ and we speak according to Christ and we glorify Him,
we exalt because he's the one who's working salvation in his
people. All right? And so verse 35 now,
the father loveth the son and hath given all things into his
hand, which means that if everything is in his hand, that I don't
need to look anywhere else for salvation. He's got it all. Everything
I need is in his hand and he provides it as he will. And that
is a humbling thing, right? To look to him for everything.
You need to know that spiritually, I can't provide for myself. I'm
dependent upon the grace and the kindness of God, willing
to be gracious and merciful and compassionate to me, though I've
done nothing to earn any of that kindness at all. All right? 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. And so it's clear why the Lord's
wrath abides on those who do not believe on Christ. Because
we're saying, God, you're a liar. I don't believe your testimony
concerning your son. And I refuse it. I reject it. I don't believe it. I've got
this. If there is a God, I'm sure it'll work out. I'll negotiate
with him or whatever it is that men and women say to satisfy
or quiet their conscience. You know, there's no comfort
for that person. So, we, in looking to Christ,
walking by His Spirit, confessing Him, declaring Him, exalting
Him, we decrease, and He increases more and more. And you, as you're
looking to your brethren, you see Christ increasing more and
more, even if we don't think ourselves to be anything. We're
made humble. We're made to decrease, and He's
exalted. And that's the voice, that really
is the voice of the faithful servant coming through. That's
the voice of Christ speaking in you and revealing himself
and his work of grace in you. We stop boasting of self and
like John, we rejoice in him and exalt him before others. And so I pray the Lord will bless
that and comfort your hearts with it and make you to rejoice
And indeed, be a friend of the Lord, one who rejoices at the
voice of Christ, one who rejoices to see Christ glorified in the
eyes of others. And so may you bless that word
to your hearts. Amen. Our gracious Lord, we thank
you, Father, for your grace, your mercy, Lord, that you should
be so kind and so gracious to sinners like us. Lord, though
in ourselves we see that we are but flesh and that in our flesh
we're no better than what we were when we first believed.
Lord, though outwardly our works may change and alter and we get
older and maybe do things differently, Lord, but you know that we are
nothing in ourselves and that we ever need the grace and compassion
of our God. Lord, we ask that you would be
merciful, that you would teach us that in ourselves we're nothing,
but that you're everything and all things. And Lord, that we
would rejoice in you, like our brother here in this passage,
that Lord, we would decrease more and more in self, in our
own estimation of ourselves, and that you would increase more
and more. It's in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,
that we pray these things. Lord, we pray for our brethren. Help us again to be mindful of
one another, to pray for one another, to strive together with
our Lord in prayer for one another. And that you would be glorified
in our midst, that you would bless the body here, that you
would increase us, Lord, as it pleases you, that you would add
your people, that you would call them out of darkness and add
them to the body as it pleases you, Lord. For we know that it's
your will and it's for your glory and praise and honor that we
ask these things. In Christ's name we pray, amen.
Okay, brother. Our closing hymn will be Complete
Indeed, number 133. Complete Indeed. Complete in Thee, no work of
mine may take, dear Lord, the place of Thine. Thy blood hath
pardoned but for me, and I am now complete in Thee. Justified, O blessed thought,
and sanctified, salvation wrought, thy blood hath pardoned, bought
for me, and glorified I too shall be. Complete in Thee, no more
shall sin, Thy grace hath conquered rain within, Thy voice shall
bid the tempter flee, And I shall stand complete in Thee. Justified, O blessed thought,
And sanctified, salvation wrought, Thy blood hath pardoned but for
me, and glorified I too shall be. Complete in Thee, each watch
supplied, and no good thing to me denied. Since Thou my portion,
Lord, wilt be, I ask no more complete in Thee. Injustified,
O blessed thought, and sanctified, salvation wrought, Thy blood
hath pardoned, bought for me, And glorified I too shall be. Your Savior, when before thy
bar All tribes and tongues assembled are, Among thy chosen will I
be. at Thy right hand complete in
Thee. It justified, O blessed thought,
and sanctified salvation wrought. Thy blood hath pardoned, bought
for me, and glorified I too shall be. Joey did that, too, this morning. Oh, it's nice. It's a little
bit faster than the last one. The last one was real slow. That went pretty good. Yeah,
thanks, Will. It's nice. Good. Thank you, Eric. It's a really nice sermon.