I'm back to the Gospel of John. I was thinking of that song here. He hideth my soul. Listen to
this. A wonderful Savior is Jesus my
Lord, a wonderful Savior to me. He hideth my soul in the cleft
of the rock where rivers of pleasure I see. A blind woman wrote that. I thought, you read these words,
and she was blind. But yet she had the best sight.
She had the best sight. She could see the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ. And I was thinking as we were
singing that, she's not blind now. She's not blind now. All those infirmities that come
to us by sin are laid aside. Perfect health, perfect body,
perfect sight. What God can do, He can take
a situation, a bad situation, and make it a glorious one. Now, here in John chapter 3,
the title of the message, All Things
Given to Christ, I was going to bring this last Thursday night,
but I didn't make it as far in the message last Sunday as I
thought I would, so I'm bringing it this morning. But all things
have been given unto the hand of the Lord Jesus Christ. A.W. Pink made this observation. He gives this contrast between
John and Christ. And he shows how that John gave
a full witness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here in John's testimony
of Christ, John could only receive what was given to him. But all
things were given to the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Christ. He is the Savior. He's the appointed,
anointed Savior. John's the forerunner. The Lord
Jesus Christ is the bridegroom. John said, He's just a friend
of the bridegroom. John said, He must increase and I must decrease. John says that He is from above,
talking to His disciples, pointing to Him. He's from above. Speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ,
I'm of the earth. I didn't come from above. I came
from parents. I'm of this earth. And then John
said, he has the Spirit without measure. John had the Spirit
by measure, as we all who preach do. And the Lord Jesus Christ
is the only begotten Son from heaven, and John just a servant,
a voice. He made a full witness of the
Lord Jesus Christ and never took any credit in any way, shape,
or form to himself. And he says in verse 31 to his
disciples, He that cometh from heaven is above all. He's telling
them that this one, that they say that all men are coming to
Him and He's baptizing, they were jealous. He's saying to
them, He's from heaven. This is no ordinary man. This
is no ordinary person. He's from heaven. That being
so, He is above all in place. From heaven. The presence of
God. God has come into this world. Saying that He is from heaven,
that means He's above all in the dignity of His person, the
Son of God. That's why it is said in Hebrews,
let all the angels of God worship Him. If He were not God, it would
be idolatry and evil to worship Jesus Christ. He's above all as a Son of God,
He's above the angels, He's above all the prophets, He's above
Moses, He's above John the Baptist. You remember on the Mount of
Transfiguration, there was the Lord, Moses and Elijah. You know
what the disciples that were there, you know what they wanted
to do? Make a tabernacle for all three of them, putting them
on all equal footing. They were going to worship Moses
and Elijah and Christ all the same. And then the Lord opened
their eyes and they saw Jesus only. They saw Him only. Him only shalt thou worship.
Only. And then saying He's from heaven
shows His eternal existence. He has no beginning of days nor
end of life. This is the Son of God. And then
being from heaven, It shows His character. Holy. This is the Holy One. This is
the Holy One of Israel. How many times is that said in
the Scriptures? And especially in the Gospel. The Holy One of
Israel. He knew no sin. He's from heaven. Jesus Christ is from heaven. And He that's of the earth is
earthly and speaks of the earth. He that comes from heaven is
above all. You know, John's not speaking of being worldly when
he says, he that's of the earth is earthly. He's not speaking
about being worldly. He's just saying he's from earth. He's
not been in heaven. John is saying, I didn't come
from heaven. I'm earthly. I'm earthly. My parents were
earthly. This man's not earthly. Nothing of this earth entered
into his birth. Nothing of the nature of Adam
entered into his birth. He's from above. He's from above. When He says earthly, He's talking
about that which is born of the flesh is flesh. You know, Adam
was created from the dust of the ground. Adam rebelled. And by him, sin entered the world.
And now we are sinful, fragile. We're so fragile. We're like
a tender plant. You just step on it and crush
it. If it were not God protecting us, you could just step on us
and crush us. We're fragile, limited in knowledge.
Boy, all you got to do is just watch a scientific program and
you realize how limited in knowledge we are. Man just scratches the
surface, just the surface. One person was telling me that
when they were in college, they were in their math class, that
sometimes a person will just break off in just one area of
math, one problem of math. And then when they start to solve
that problem, then a whole other door opens up to it. We're so
limited in knowledge. We're subject to infirmities.
I guarantee you every person in this room right now has an
infirmity in one way or another. One way or another you have an
infirmity. That's us. Earthly. That's earthly. That
explains us. Now, except someone comes from
heaven and gives us an understanding of that place and of God who
dwells in heaven, we will never know. We will never know God. We will never have a right understanding
of heaven. You know, Hollywood can make
the best horror movies, can't they? I mean, they can make the
best. You know why? Because that's
them. We know what that is. We know what evil is. We know
what sin is. But when they make one of heaven,
what do they make? Somebody floating on a cloud?
Playing a harp? That's about the extent of it.
They literally don't make movies of anything of heaven. They don't know it, but you got
all kind of good horror movies out there, Chainsaw Massacre,
all these movies, because that's us. That's us. Now, unless someone
comes from heaven, we will never know about God in heaven. We will never have a right conception
of it. So this one who's come from heaven,
He came there, listen, in verse 32, and what he has seen and
heard, this one who has come from heaven, what he has seen
and heard, that he testifieth. That's his message. Are you interested? Are you interested in knowing
about God who created all things? Are you interested in knowing
the character of God? What's He like? What's His Son
like? Are you interested in knowing
those things that are eternal? Are you interested in knowing
about the unseen world? Well, there's one who has come
and given us a testimony about it. He has come. In verse 32, "...and what he
has seen and heard, that's what he testifies." That's his message.
"...he that is from above speaks of heavenly things." You see,
you remember when Paul went to the third heaven, he came back
and he said, I saw things unlawful to utter, impossible, we don't
have the vocabulary to comprehend or to put into words what I saw,
I just can't. When you read the book of Revelation,
you read about things that we can relate to, beast, forfeited
this, We can't comprehend the true revelation of heaven. But there's one who's come from
heaven, who's from that place, and revealed them to us. Revealed
the truth to us about God, about that place. He reveals the Father
who's in heaven. It says in Luke 10.22, All things
are delivered to me of my Father. As I just read, all things are
given to him, put into his hand. And no man knoweth who the Son
is, and who the Father is, but the Son, and He to whom the Son
will reveal Him. You and I have no idea who the
Father is, we don't know who He is, what He's like, until
the Son reveals Him. Until the Son makes us to know
that God is light. and in him was no darkness. God
is holy. God is just. God is righteous. God is love. God is merciful. You didn't learn that from nature.
You learned that from the Son of God, who came from heaven
and revealed the Father to us, made him known to us. Our Lord came into this world
and He spoke and He speaks. He's still speaking. The truth
concerning God, the truth concerning us. You know, when you read the Bible,
it doesn't give any glowing terms in any way, shape or form to
human nature, does it? You won't read that in the Word
of God. That's why it's so unpopular.
But he gives the truth about God, about us, about himself,
and about what he came to do. He came to redeem. He came to
save sinners. That's what he came to do. And
he's going to save them. Those whom he redeemed, he's
going to save. And here's what's said, "...and no man receiveth
his testimony." No man naturally receives The
testimony of Christ. Here's his testimony, the whole
word of God. Here's the testimony. And no man naturally receives
it. Unless God saves you, unless
God saves me, we will not receive the gospel. Receive anything else. Christ
said, let another come in his name, him you'll receive. Natural man will not receive
the message of grace. He won't do it. It's unnatural
to him. What's natural to natural man
is to earn. It's to earn. Earn your way to
heaven, earn favor with God. That's the natural man's thinking.
You know, salvation is the only thing that natural man does not
want free. Everything else free. Give me
a house, woo-hoo, I like that. Win the lottery? Give me a new
car? But give me salvation free? No,
I'll work for that one. That's the only thing natural
man does not want free. Everything else he wants free.
Everything else. But salvation is a free gift
of God through Jesus Christ. And you can't work in any way,
shape, or form to earn that. That's the free grace of God. But now listen, all is not lost.
There in verse 33, some will receive His testimony. Some will. He that hath received His testimony
hath said to his seal that God is true. There were not many who followed
Him, but there were some. There were some. And you know why the
son followed him? He said, come, follow me. And they did. When he sent forth
his word in power, they jumped out of the boat and followed
him. Matthew, sitting at the receipt of customs, got up and
left. All that right there. I mean,
he didn't say, well, wait a minute, let me... No, he just got up
and followed him. You see, that one man said, Lord,
I'll follow you wherever, so wherever you go, but let me go
home and bury my dead, my father. Let me go home, bury my father.
And the Lord said, let the dead bury the dead. You come follow me.
Now, following Christ is not something you do later. It's
not something you do at your convenience. It's something you
do when he says, follow me. He says, follow me. And when
he sends that word forth in power, you follow Christ. and leave
all." And the man or woman who has
received His testimony has set to His seal. You know what that
word means? It means to certify and ratify that this is the Christ. This is the promised seed. And
all the promises of God are fulfilled in Him. Salvation is fulfilled
in Him. Redemption is fulfilled in Him.
Righteousness that God demands is fulfilled in Him. He's the
end of the law for righteousness. I believe that. You believe that? Jesus Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness. The law can demand no more of
me than Jesus Christ. And if I have Him, the law cannot
demand any more of me because He supplies everything I need. Everything I need. And every person in this room
that believes, you have certified and ratified that Jesus is the
Christ. I believe God, He is it. I stake
everything, lock, stock, and barrel on that man, Jesus Christ.
When I stand before God, my hope is not that I accepted Him as
my Savior, but my hope is that God has accepted me in Him as
my Lord and Savior. And I believe He has. because
of the interest that I have in Christ. I have a real interest. Some of you have a real interest
in Jesus Christ. You have a real interest in knowing
Him. You have a real interest in being saved by Him. You have
a real interest in being saved from your sins. You have a real
interest. And the reason why is God has
saved you. God has saved you. Verse 34, For he whom God hath
sent speaketh the words of God. Every word that came out of his
mouth, every word was a word coming from God. You know that? There was no idle talk with him.
Every word he spoke was a word coming from God, because he's
the Word of God. Every word coming from him. For God, he says, giveth not
the Spirit by measure unto him. You know, it says in Colossians
2.9, in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And we are complete in him. But
the whole fullness of the God, all that God is, you know, the
heavens, it says, the heavens, the heavens, the heaven of heavens,
it says, cannot contain God. But you know, God is contained.
in that man, Jesus Christ, all that God is, is contained in
that man, all that He is. Heaven of heavens can't contain
Him, yet in that one man He's contained. The fullness of God
dwells in Him. Paul wrote this in 1 Corinthians
13.9, For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, that is,
we preach in part. But now listen, our Lord did
not do that. Our Lord did not know in part,
and He did not preach in part. He knew perfectly. His knowledge
was perfect. As God, He knows all things.
And when He preached, He preached perfectly. Perfectly. He didn't get names mixed up
like I do. You know, He didn't get sidetracked.
He didn't lose His place. When He spoke, He spoke the Word
of God and He spoke it perfectly. The Lord Jesus Christ knew the
full truth. And the reason He knew the full
truth is because He is the truth. That's the truth. He is the truth. Now that being
so, this being so, this tells us We need to listen to Him. We need to listen to Him. You know, I've read you His Word
this morning. That's Him speaking. That's God
speaking through His Word. We need to listen to Him. But not
only listen to Him, but believe Him. Receive Him. Bow to Him. Bow to His Word. Listen to Matthew 17, 5. While
he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them. And
behold, a voice out of the cloud which said, this is my beloved
son in whom I'm well pleased. Hear ye him. You know, one day, listen, one
day he will speak no more. One day he will speak no more. But while the day is the day,
the day is the day of salvation, the word goes out, Hear ye Him. Listen to Him. Obey Him. And then verse 35 tells us whom
the Father loves. I was driving somewhere here
last week and I saw a sign out on a church bulletin board. It
said, God loves you. God loves you. Well, here in verse 35, it tells
us who God loves. You know, we have in the Word
of God, we have in the Word of God whom the Lord loves. The Father loveth the Son. This,
this is the foundation for our faith. The Father loveth the
Son and has given everything into his hand. The Father loves
Him. God has laid help upon one that's
mighty, and it's the one that He loves, the Lord Jesus Christ. And I can tell you someone else,
I know who else the Lord loves. In Psalm 146.8, the Lord openeth
the eyes of the blind. The Lord raiseth them that are
bowed down. The Lord loveth the righteous. The Lord loveth the righteous. When we read of the love of God,
we read of God loving His Son, God
loving the righteous. He loves all those who are in
His Son. You know what He says about the
workers of iniquity? Now, I've never seen this written on a
bulletin board. God hateth the workers of iniquity. God hateth the workers of iniquity. It says here, as we'll go on
here, that those who believe have eternal life, and those
who do not believe are under God's condemnation. It doesn't
say they are under His love. You know where the love of God
is? You know where it's expressed? In the ark. In the ark. It's not expressed outside the
ark. I'm telling you, I'm being truthful with you. God's love
has never been expressed outside the ark. It's in the ark. It's in Christ. You want to know
the love of God? You want to experience the love
of God? Look to the Lord Jesus Christ. Flee to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Because outside of Him is nothing but wrath. That's
the truth. That's the truth. Now you're
just fooling a bunch of God-hating rebels when you go around telling
them, say, God loves you. If you find a God-hating rebel,
there's one thing I can tell them for sure. God's wrath abides
on you. You need to flee to Christ. You
need to flee to the Lamb of God. There's where the love of God
is expressed. Right there. The Father loveth the Son, and
hath given all things into his hand. And he that believes on
the Son hath everlasting life. And he that believeth not the
Son shall not see life. But the wrath of God abides on
him." Every person stands in faith
or unbelief. One place or the other. There's
no middle ground. No middle ground. Now let me give you a few things
here, and I'm going to close, concerning all things given to
the Lord Jesus Christ. As the only Mediator between
God and men, God the Father has turned everything over to His
Son, just like Pharaoh did to Joseph. He said, Go to Joseph.
Everything has been turned over to the Son of God. The whole
of creation was turned over to Him. When you read in Genesis,
in the beginning God said, Let there be light. That is the Lord
Jesus Christ speaking. That's Him speaking. How do I
know that? Here's how I know that. Colossians
1.16, For by Him, Christ, were all things created that are in
heaven, that are in earth, visible and invisible. Whether they be
thrones, dominions, principalities, or powers, all things were created
by Him and for Him. He wasn't created for me, it's
for Him. It says in John 1.10, He was
in the world, the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him
not. And all principalities and powers
were put under Him. All that He created, and all
those principalities and powers, they're under His power. They're
under His power. The whole spiritual realm was
created by Him, for Him, and is under His power right now. Brethren, we have no concept
of the power of Satan, of the power of darkness. We have no
concept of that power. You remember when Moses put his
rod down and it turned into a serpent? And those magicians put theirs
down and it turned into a serpent too. Now the rod of Moses ate them
up, but it still turned into a... A serpent. Satan has much
power. Angels have much power. I forget over in Revelations
that God sent an angel. One place in the Old Testament,
God sent an angel and slew 185,000 men. An angel. Oh my, but he's over all of them. Can you imagine what it'd be
like if they were unchecked? I mean, you can't even imagine
what it'd be like if humanity was unchecked. Then all power, all earthly powers
are under his power. Kings reign by his sovereign
decree. I know it looks like Washington
D.C. is out of control. It looked like that for years.
I mean, many years. But it's under His control. It's
under His power. Kings reign by Him. Listen, Proverbs
8.15, By me kings reign, and princes decree justice. He brings down a nation and raises
up a nation. God does that. He said, The nations
are a drop in the bucket to me. That's how much power He has
over them. And then, listen, our Lord has power over all flesh.
You know, it says this over in... I want you to see this. Turn
over to John 17. John 17. Verse 1, These words
spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, The
hours come. Glorify thy son, that thy son
also may glorify thee. As thou hast given him power
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him. If he did not have power over
all flesh, especially yours and mine, sinners wouldn't be saved. But he has all power to conquer
anyone. He can conquer the hardest criminal
out there, or the hardest Pharisee out there. He has power over
all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as the
Father, He says, has given to Him. Our Lord has power over
all flesh. The King's heart, it says in
Proverbs 21. The King's heart is in the hand
of the Lord. As the rivers of water, He turneth
it wither, so ever He will. And then listen, all the elect
of God are placed in His hand and under His care as their surety. And He's responsible to bring
them home and He has all power to do whatever is needed to save
them. Not just with His blood. He does
that with His blood and His righteousness. We are eternally saved through
the blood and righteousness of Christ. But He saves us daily.
You made it here safe this morning, didn't you? Two weeks ago, I was behind two
vehicles. I was right behind them, and
that young boy just slammed into that woman's truck. He didn't
see her lights on and flipped her rotor three times. That could have been me. That
could have been me. He's giving his angels charge
over you. You have a spiritual military. You have a spiritual
military watching over you. You don't even realize it. You
realize the guards that are around your house at night and day?
You realize when you go get there, get in the car to go home, that
a band of angels is following you? You know when Peter knocked
on the door, and they were praying for Peter, and he'd been in prison,
and the angel came and let him loose, and he's knocking on the
door, and they didn't believe it was him. They said, it's his
angel. It's his angel. I'm talking to you about things
that are very real. Very real. And all spiritual blessings come
to us through Him. He has the power to give us all
spiritual blessings. He said to His disciples, My
peace I give to you. My peace. The peace of reconciliation
that He accomplished between God and the sinner. He said,
I give you My peace. Pardon. He has the power to pardon
us. You know, He said, the Son of
Man has power on earth to forgive sins. The forgiveness of sins,
pardon, justification, righteousness, perseverance, that all comes
to us through Him. All of it. And the power to give
life is His. You know, He can speak life this
morning to a dead sinner in here, and you have life. It's not whether
or not you make a decision at all, that has nothing to do with
it. If He says live, like He did that baby cast out into the
field in Ezekiel, if He says live, you will live. And the evidence of that, you'll
believe, you'll repent, and you'll say, Pastor, baptize me. I want
to follow my Lord in baptism. I want to be identified with
His people here at Bethel Baptist. That's the evidence of it. And listen, the power to execute
judgment is given to Him. It says in John 5.27 that the
Father has given Him authority to execute judgment also because
He's the Son of Man. That man who was crucified 2,000
years ago is the judge of all the earth. And everybody's going
to stand before Him. Everybody. And in closing, God's
preachers never preach a Christ who wants to save you if you'll
let Him. No. We preach the risen reigning
monarch of heaven and earth. And every knee is going to bow
and every tongue is going to confess He's Lord, to the glory of God
the Father, whether they like it or not. It's either now or
later. It's just a matter of when. It
really is. Omnipotent power and universal
sovereignty and reign belongs to Jesus Christ. Now I'm going
to read you these Scriptures and we'll close. Revelation 19. If you want to follow along,
you can turn over there to Revelation 19. I've got it written down
here. So I'll just read it to you, but if you want to follow
along, Revelation 19, verses 11 through 16. Listen to this. And I saw heaven opened, and
behold, a white horse. And he that sat upon him was
called Faithful and True. And in righteousness he doth
judge and make war. His eyes were a flame of fire,
and on his head were many crowns." Not just one crown. You see,
the Jews hung him on a cross. They had the Romans to hang him
on a cross. And they had written over him, This is Jesus, King
of the Jews. But when John saw him, he said
he had many crowns. Many crowns. And he had a name
written. that no man knew but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture
dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. And
the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses,
clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth
goeth a sharp sword." That's the Word of God, the Gospel.
that with it, and out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that
with it he should smite the nations, and he shall rule them with a
rod of iron, and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness
and wrath of Almighty God, and he hath on his vesture and on
his thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords." Does that sound like somebody
wants to do something? I don't think so. Here's what I say in closing.
Psalm 212, kiss the son. Right now, right now. Kiss the son lest he be angry
and you perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little.
Blessed are all they that put their trust in him. All right.