If we see anything in Scripture
and we don't behold that in the light of Christ, we haven't grasped
it. We don't know what it is. To the natural man, reading that
Moses, the Lord told him, He said, I'm going to kill you.
You're not going in that land. He took him up on a mountain. He
said, you won't enter the promised land. To the natural man, well,
that sounds bad, don't it? That couldn't be right. I thought
Moses was his man. No, he was. He was. He was on
that Mount of Transfiguration with Him. And there whenever
Paul had preached all through Galatians 2, and he stood Peter
to the face of Galatians 5, and all Acts 15, and they traveled
up to Jerusalem, preaching the whole way, rejoicing the whole
way against circumcision. Circumcision doesn't profit a
man. If you're going to be circumcised, you better keep the whole law.
The whole Acts 15. And in the beginning of Acts
16, he sees Timothy. And he saw the characteristics
of God's preacher in him. He understood that. And he said,
Timothy, I want you to go preach with me. Come out back. I'm going
to circumcise you. People get turned upside down
with that, don't they? It doesn't make sense to us unless
the Lord makes it make sense to us. I was going to preach
from that this evening, That's a lot of meat. Like any other
meat, you've got to cook it a long time. So maybe next week we'll
look at Acts 16. But proceeding, let's turn to
John 3. We'll finish up John 3. This is when John the Baptist
says, He must increase and I must decrease. Boy, that doesn't make
sense to us either, does it? Not in our flesh, it don't. But
I think we'll learn some things tonight. We'll teach us something
and then we'll see Christ in it. And John 3, we'll begin there
in verse 25. It says, then there arose a question
between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purifying.
And they came unto John and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was
with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou bearest witness, behold,
the same baptizeth and all men come to him. They're speaking
about the Lord Jesus Christ. These people out for debate. They're argumentative religionists.
They're wanting to debate about purifying with John's disciples.
We don't know if that was the purifying that was in law, or
if that was the purifying of their traditions. We don't know
what it's saying. But they sought to sow discourse.
That was their means. I want to get at you over this,
so I'm going to pick on you for something else. I'm going to
sow discourse. They said, Christ came to you,
John, You baptized Him. We saw it. And now He's baptizing,
and everybody's going to Him. Boy, He's doing better than you
are. Somebody's just baptized, baptizing other people, and they're
so successful in it. Here's what they couldn't get
a hold of. Here's what the Lord hadn't revealed to them. And here's
what most of this world does not know. This is the God-Man. Almighty God in human flesh.
He's baptizing spiritually through the Holy Ghost, and He's using
His disciples physically to baptize. He didn't baptize anyone physically
on this earth while He was here. We see that in John 4, verse
2, over one page. It says, "...though Jesus Himself
baptized not, but His disciples." That God-man, the Christ prophesied
of the Old Testament, He was baptized. Why? In Matthew 3 we read, Then Jesus
cometh from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him.
But John forbade him, saying, I have need to be baptized of
thee. Now comes to me, and Jesus answered
and said, Suffer it to be so, for thus it becometh us to fulfill
all righteousness. Then John suffered him. John
knew what he was talking about right then. I understand. John
had to be baptized. Christ was baptized for it. What
Christ did, His sheep that are one with Him, they did. If we
could get a hold of that. Isn't that the unsearchable riches?
We're made one with Him. That's amazing grace. And what
His people do by His will and His grace, what He puts in them
to do, the good works they perform, It's manifest of God. It's Christ
doing it in him. It's working in them. That's
what it is. It said in Luke 10, 16, He that heareth you, heareth
me. When he was sending those 70
out. And he said, He that despiseth you, he really ain't got nothing
against you. He despises me. And he that despiseth
me, despises him that sent me. We're made one with him. Paul
wrote to us and said, Now then we are ambassadors for Christ.
as though God did beseech you by us. And what does that result
in? If I'm an ambassador and I speak
only what's given to me to speak from the King, what does that
result in? We pray you in Christ's head
be ye reconciled to God. Bow to Him. Come to Christ. It
says there in verse 26, And they came unto John and said unto
him, Rabbi, He that was with thee beyond the Jordan, to whom
thou bearest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men
come to him." People aren't coming to you anymore, John. And they
call him Rabbi. Teacher. I could only speculate
on the inflection in their voice when they said that. Teacher.
It's bitter. This is your job, John. And they're
all going to Christ. That's what you were sent to
do, wasn't it? Weren't you sent out here in the wilderness to
baptize folks? He's doing it. That's your job. They were trying
to make John jealous. That's what they were doing.
They were trying to divide John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's the great accuser of the
brethren, trying to divide the Lord's people and trying to separate
them from Christ. Give them a look to themselves,
give them a look to the world, something else. Turn over Numbers 11. This
isn't new. This isn't something that just
happened. It started happening. It's been happening for a long
time. Look here in Numbers 11 verse 24. Numbers 11, 24. It says, And
Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord, and gathered
the seventy men of the elders of the people, and set them round
about the tabernacle. And the Lord came down in a cloud,
and spake to him, and took of the Spirit that was upon him,
and gave it unto the seventy elders. And it came to pass,
that when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, and did
not cease. Boy, we've learned a lot from
that. They were kept to the end. They didn't cease. God's Spirit
rested on them. Just as Christ sent out those
70 and He equipped them, that Spirit came off of Moses.
And these men, they were called to preach. If a man's truly called
to preach, they're called by God, they're enabled by God,
and they're sent by God, and the Spirit gives them the word
to His people. Most of the time, I don't know
what that word is. I'll say something, and somebody will come up to
me and say, boy, that just hit me right in the heart. I was like,
what did? I didn't know that. All I'm going, I'm experiencing
this. I didn't know that. He did. He does, don't he? It
says in verse 26, But there remained two of the men in the camp. They weren't in another camp.
There ain't no other camp. They were in the camp. And the name
of the one was Eldad and the name of the other Medad. And
the Spirit rested upon them. Not another spirit, the Spirit.
The Spirit rested upon them. And they were of them that were
written. but went not out unto the tabernacle, and they prophesied
in the camp." They didn't go up and preach where everybody
else always preached. They were preaching out in the camp. They were preaching
there in the camp, not in the tabernacle where the other ones
were. It says in verse 27, "...and there ran a young man, and told
Moses, and said, El, Dad, and me, Dad, do prophesy in the camp. And Joshua, the son of Nun, a
servant of Moses, one of his young men," very young man, "...answered
and said, My Lord Moses, forbid them. And Moses said unto him,
Envious thou for my sake. Do you want them to quit doing
that because of me? Are you looking out for me? I'm glad you're looking
out for me. Thank you. But would God that all the Lord's
people were prophets and that the Lord would put his spirit
upon them. And Moses got him into the camp,
he and the elders of Israel. The first thing he did, let's
go here and preach. I want to get down there. The Lord did
this. My flesh says, our flesh says,
you can't be doing that. You didn't come from the right
channels. You better stop it. Moses said, if God has put his
spirit on them, if he's the one that's done the work, thank God
for him. Thank the Lord for him. I pray
the Lord gives me that spirit of meekness that he gave Moses.
an ability to encourage and support gospel works if I not hear of
them. If they're preaching Christ, the Spirit of God is with them.
I want to support them. I want people to know about them. Even if they
don't do things exactly the way I do. Even if they don't dress
just the same way I dress. If they don't observe the Lord's
table the way I observe the Lord's table. If they're preaching Christ,
if they're sin of God, I want to support them. I want to know
of them and be thankful for them. That was the spirit of Paul too,
did you know that? Turn over to Ephesians chapter
3. Ephesians 3. It says in verse 7, Whereof I was
made a minister, Ephesians 3.7, whereof I was made a minister
according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by
the effectual working of His power unto me, who am less than
the least of all saints. Is this grace given? that I should
preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ."
Paul's saying it is a great and marvelous grace that I could
be numbered with the saints of God. I'm His. I know what I am. I know what
He saved me from and I'm His. That's an amazing grace. That's
a marvelous, great grace. And then he says, and that I
can preach unto the Gentiles. We've looked at that before.
If his brethren of the flesh heard him say that, what are
you talking about, Paul? Why are you preaching down to them
lowly Gentiles? He said, well, I get to. I get to. It's the grace of God doing it.
Turn over one book there to the right in Philippians. Philippians
1. Verse 12. Philippians 1.12 says, But I
would, ye should understand, brethren, that these things which
happen unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of
the gospel, so that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all
the palace and in all the places. And many of the brethren in the
Lord waxing confident in my bonds are much more bold to speak the
word without fear." Paul was writing this from prison. And
the root cause he was in prison wasn't because of trumped up
charges. It wasn't because there was this mean religious people
that was picking on Paul. The root cause of it, of him
being in prison, was the furtherance of the gospel. The Lord put him
there. He said, I'm Christ's prisoner.
I happen to be in Rome, but I'm His prisoner. And he says, my
brethren, my fellow laborers, My fellow ambassadors, they're
growing more confident because of this. They're speaking more
boldly without fear because I'm in prison. They see a need for
preaching. I can't travel like I did. I'm
in shackles. I'm on house arrest. And they
see the Lord keeping me in prison. They see the Lord still using
me to write these epistles in prison. And they trust the Lord.
They trust Him. That's a good thing. I don't
want to go to prison. If the Lord blesses it like He blessed
Paul, I'm ready to go to prison. That's wonderful. It says in
verse 15, Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife,
and some also of goodwill. The one preached Christ of contention,
not sincerely supposing to add affliction to my bonds. I can do better than Paul did.
Paul wasn't doing it right. I can do a better job. Paul worded
these things. He didn't have his points in
good order. I can outdo him. That's what that's saying. That's
poor spirit though, isn't it? Still preaching Christ. It says
in verse 17, but the other of love, knowing that I am set for
the defense of the gospel. What then? There's two types
of men that preach different because they are different. He
says, Notwithstanding every way, whether in pretense or in truth,
Christ is preached, and I therein do rejoice, yea, and I will rejoice. They preach Christ or Paul wouldn't
have rejoiced, would he? He said in Galatians 1.8, But
though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto
you than that which we preached unto you, let him be accursed.
He bargained and said, I don't know about that. Paul said he
rejoiced in it, didn't he? That's preaching the gospel. Maybe that's
doing a poor job of it. Maybe they had a sour motive
behind it. They're preaching Christ. He
said, I rejoice. I want to have that spirit to
encourage brethren. to know and love the preachers
of Christ that I know and love. I know them. I do my best, as
I can remember, in the bulletins. If there's another pastor that's
still preaching, I put where they are, the city and state
they're from in parentheses. I want you to know that. But
you know where they're from. Like, where's Tom Harding at? Hold on, I got an old bulletin
here. I remember reading an article. Yep, he's in Pocco, Kentucky.
I want you to know them, read them, hear of them, and if you're
traveling, go see them. You up in Arkansas? Go. You're
up close to Arkansas? Go. That's good. Tell them we
love them while you're up there. That's a great thing. Brother
Paul Mahan has done more for my ministry than any other person
that I know of. He sent more people here to hear
me preach. And I thought, oh, Paul, tell them to fly to Virginia.
You do a much better job than I do. They say he's just like
his daddy. Henry was the same way. That's
the most supportive man of a gospel work you could ever find. But
it wasn't that, that's just lineage. They had the same spirit put
in him. That's what that is. Our carnal mind, our flesh says,
like Paul wrote to us in 1 Corinthians 3, Oh, I'm a Paul. And another
says, I'm a Paulist. But that's carnal mind, isn't
it? We fall to it. I fall to it. If someone does
something different than I do, and they do, or they think I
ought to be doing something different than what I'm doing, but if Christ
is exalted, I rejoice. They do too. They rejoice in
it. Paul said to Philemon, for we have great joy and consolation
in our love because the bowels of the saints are refreshed by
thee, brother. God is blessing his saints through your preaching,
Philemon, and I wouldn't have it any other way. We rejoice.
We have a great joy. We can read about these things,
what we experience now. A couple weeks ago there in rescue,
our brother James was baptized. I didn't ever cross my mind.
I said, well, I ought to have done that. No, hey, wonderful. Yes,
that's great. Go listen to it, too. Fred Evans
preached at Lexington this evening. Then afterwards, they have a
baptistry there. They baptized one of our sisters.
That's wonderful. Good. The Lord's working. Amen.
He's calling out our brethren, isn't he? Marysville, California. Brother Rick's up there preaching.
Dawes, Oregon. New Caney, Texas. Yucatan, Mexico. Popville, Kentucky and Papua
New Guinea. The Lord has His people. He has His candlesticks
all around this world. And I am tickled to death. There
might be more out there. I want to know them. I want to
hear them. Now back in our text here in John 3. He says in verse 26, And they came
unto John, and said unto him, Rabbi, He that was with thee
beyond the Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold, the same
baptizeth, and all men come to him." Boy, they're just stabbing
John as hard as they can, trying to get their claws in him. And
John's going to have a six-fold message for them, to those trying
to divide. God gave John the spirit and
the ability to preach the good news to them. I circled six-fold. Somehow in my notes I got third
and fourth mixed up. There might be five or seven.
I don't know. Six-fold message. First one. The Lord is sovereign
and right in all things. That's simple, isn't it? I need
to hear that. I need to hear it often. Several
times throughout the day. He says in verse 27, John answered
and said, here's his reply, a man can receive nothing except it
be given him from heaven. He's getting more people in the
pew, John. He's having more success. And John bowed to the sovereign
will of God. Oh, that's a good way to start
it. If the Lord moved me to Russia, and I got to comfort one saint
on their deathbed, I lost my citizenship, lost anything I've
accumulated in this country, and I've got to go to some foreign
country that's a communist government, and oh, they're the bad boogeyman,
and I've got to comfort one of his saints on their deathbed,
sit there and speak to him, preach a word to him. Oh, what a blessing
that would be. What a blessing that would be.
And serving is given of God. That service, that ministry be
given of God. It's right. It's right. People say, well,
I don't think that's fair. It don't matter what I think. It don't matter if I
think it's fair. Oh, it's right. It's good. What
a privilege that be. Whatever is given to a saint
of God is on purpose and His name is to be blessed. Anything. Anything. I got a thorn in the
flesh. Good. Praise His name. Sang to
Him. Job said that after he had everything
taken from him. And Job had a lot. He was the
Elon Musk of that age. He was wealthy. Greatest man
of the East. And he said, naked came I out
of my mother's womb, naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave
and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
I took everything from you, Job. Good. Blessed be His name. And
saying that, the spirit and attitude that Job was given, we read next,
in all this, Job said not, nor charged God foolishly. Job spoke
the truth. That was good work, Job. Nobody
would think so, would they? Paul said, for who maketh thee
to differ from another? And what hast thou that thou
didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it,
why dost thou glory as if thou hast not received it? Like you
earned it or something. You didn't do that. If I preach
a message and it blesses somebody and they thank me for it, thank
you for that message. Boy, I needed that. I needed
to hear that. I appreciate that. I can't glory
in that. I can only glory in the Lord
that gave it and the Lord that blessed it. He was gracious to
me, and He was gracious to the one listening to Him. Somebody
comes here and preaches before. Brother Angus was coming, and
I think Brother John's going to come now. And they preach,
and you're blessed by it. Thank them. Thank them. That
was wonderful. Thank you. If it blessed you,
tell them. You ain't going to puff them up. They ain't going
to get too big for the britches. The Lord will keep them right
where He wants them. I promise you. Just like He did John, like
He does all His servants. Keep them right there. Next,
John says here in verse 28, Ye yourselves bear me witness that
I said I'm not the Christ, but that I am sent before him." He
said, I'm nothing. I'm only a voice. I'm a mouthpiece.
I'm an ambassador that speaks what's given for him to speak.
Turn over to chapter 1 then, just a page. The Jews, they sent
the priests and Levites, well they sent the experts, to ask
who John was. You go find out who he is. It
says there in verse 20, And he confessed and denied not, but
confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, what then?
Art thou Elias? And he saith, I'm not. Art thou
a prophet, that prophet? And he said, no. And they said
unto him, who art thou, that we may give an answer to them
that sin us? What sayest thou of thyself? Here's your opportunity
to brag, John, tell us all about you. And he said, I'm the voice. of one crying in the wilderness.
I'm just a voice. I'm a mouthpiece. I thought of
them saxophones, the woodwinds. On a saxophone, I tried to play
it when I was in middle school. You take that mouthpiece off.
Got a little reed in there, a woodwind, the reed, and that plastic. That
ain't nothing. You can get them, the saxophone's
important. You can get them a dime a dozen down at the store, can't
you? So I'm a mouthpiece. I'm a voice.
That's all I am. Back in our text there, chapter three, thirdly,
John says, we rejoice in Christ calling His sheep. That's what
you're saying He's doing. He's baptizing. If they believe
Him, they're baptized of Him. He said, He's calling out His
sheep, and I'm happy about that. His people are too. Verse 29,
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."
That bride is the Lord's church. His body, the bridegroom, that's
Christ. And He hath the bride. Oh, that's
something. That means He's always had that
bride. He has that bride right now and forever. No matter what,
He has that bride. That's His. And if I'm a groomsman,
if I'm His friend, See, he's a friend of sinners, isn't he?
Fred lays down his life for the sheep. He's our friend. He's
our friend where he is. And I get to witness the wedding
of his bride. He's already called me and I
get to see him call out one of his sheep. I rejoice greatly. That's wonderful. I get to hear
his voice and watch him join himself to his bride. I get to
witness that. I get to watch that. That's something.
A couple of years ago, Ben Moyer, dear friend of mine,
he's like my little brother. I love him to death. His bride,
Sarah, she's like my daughter. I love both of them. He said,
will you be a groomsman at my wedding? I said, I sure will
be. I didn't have to say nothing. I didn't have to do nothing.
I had to get dressed up and show up. That was the last time I
saw brother Angus. He read scripture. And then Clay
married him. I wasn't jealous. Did you know
that? I wasn't jealous of Angus. I wasn't jealous of Clay. I wasn't
jealous of Ben. I was happy. Wonderful. I was happy more so
for him. I was happy for her too. Both
of us. I was happy for both of us. Wonderful. Oh, you all would
be good for each other. Look what the Lord joined together.
That's great. Wasn't a jealous bone in my body.
I was just tickled to death. This divisive comment. First,
John says, no man hath anything unless God is pleased to give
it to him. Second, he says, I'm only a voice. I'm nothing and
it's nothing for me to get puffed up in. I always read that in
Numbers 22, the Lord opened the mouth of a donkey and made it
talk to Balaam and used a donkey to make Balaam be the one that
says nay. Ain't that something? Thirdly, we rejoice in the work
of the Lord, of his saving his people by whatever earthen vessel
he's pleased to use. It don't make a difference to
me. And fourth, that trend must continue. It's got to continue. He says in verse 30, He must
increase, but I must decrease. If we want to snuff out all of
our pride, if we want to snuff out our jealousy and our envy
and our hurt feelings whenever we get offended, this truth must
reign in our hearts. I must decrease and He must increase. Whatever happens in the Lord's
providence, He is all, I'm nothing, and He must be exalted. And no
matter how low I get, I must decrease. And no matter how highly
of Him I think, He must increase. I don't think highly enough.
To those men listening to John, can you imagine that? The attitude
they come to him with, and they're hearing him say this, you're
crazy! What is he talking about? That
just sounds so self-defeating, doesn't it? But if God decreases
you and He increases Christ in your heart, let you see Him high
and lifted up, boy, there's peace there. There's peace there. There's
comfort there. There's joy there. I tell you what I've seen and
what I've heard. I tell you my experience. I tell you the experiences
of the believers of Good Report. I must decrease. He must increase. There's a blessing in that. If
that offends a man, That's the offense of Christ,
isn't it? The offense of His cross. That's the offense of
His glory. That's the offense of His preeminence.
Of Him being exalted. He spoke there in John 6. He
was speaking about Him being the bread of life and His glory
to come, His eternal glory. And He says, when Jesus knew
in Himself that His disciples murmured at it, He said to them,
does this offend you? We're getting upset that Christ
is the one getting all the glory. Are you offended by that? And
what if you shall see the Son of Man ascend up where He was
before?" Oh, if just telling you, just telling you offends
you, just telling you makes your blood boil, imagine when you
see Him as He is, high and lifted up. Buddy, is His power, His
office of prophet, His office of our high priest, His office
of King of kings and Lord of lords, does that offend you?
It doesn't His sheep. It doesn't His people. We have
sung, we sang, we shall sing. He is Lord, He is Lord. He's
risen from the dead, He is Lord. Every knee shall bow. Every tongue
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. I've heard people have
problems with that. That gives me, I've got goosebumps.
That's wonderful. Yes! Amen! I must decrease. He must increase. John's going
to decrease. He's about to go to jail and
die. His head's about to go on a chopping block, isn't it? His
service to the Lord is about to end. If I decrease in my person,
if I decrease in my view of my ability, if I decrease in my
confidence, if I decrease in what I think ought to be done,
He will increase. He must increase. What a benefit
that'll be. That'll be a benefit to me. That'll
be a benefit to you. And that'll be a benefit to His
body everywhere. It'll be good. When I'm gone,
I'm just a voice. When I'm gone, another voice
will be raised up. Maybe I'll preach to that child
of God that's gonna be a man with a loud voice. What a privilege
that'd be. Now, I'm quickly forgotten. Kevin
who? Thatcher or something? That don't
matter. Good. Forget me. Hear him. There's some loud voices
been throughout time, isn't there? There's a man that preached to
old brother Spurgeon. Spurgeon was loud. We still got, we still
read his books and stuff, don't we? Who was that man that preached
to him? Don't matter. That man doesn't, he doesn't
care either, I promise you. Old brother Barnard. You know
who was the preacher, brother Barnard? I've heard a name, I've
heard some rumors. Don't matter who it was, was it? Another voice
came. That's all it was, just a voice.
Fifthly, John tells them Christ is all. He says there in verse
31. John 3, 31. He that cometh from above is
above all. He that is of the earth is earthly.
That's all we are. And speaketh of the earth. He
that cometh from heaven is above all. And what he hath seen and
heard That He testified. And no man receiveth. They don't
process it of themselves. They don't receive it of their
own accord. His testimony. I say, well, I've received Jesus. I've decided for Jesus. He says,
no man receiveth His testimony of themselves. We just read that
in verse 27, didn't we? A man can receive nothing except
it be given to him from heaven. If Almighty God gives life, if
He gives a heart that bows, to His sovereignty in all things.
And that gifts that I've been given are the nobleman's gifts,
like we looked at this morning. That's what it'll declare. I'm
only a voice. I'm a new heart that rejoices in Christ truly
being honored and understanding of my need. humbling and being
brought down low to get that manna. Having to stoop down to
get it. Being brought down to the dirt. And that Christ, that
manna from heaven, is all and in all. Do you believe those
things? The Lord brought you to understand
that. You believe God. Do you know that? That's right. That's true. I know it deep in
me. You believe God. That's what
He said, isn't it? Look at verse 33. And he that
receiveth his testimony hath set to His seal that God is true. What's set to our seal? That
means deep down in our bones we know God's truth. Every man's
a liar. Look at that word. What does
that say? Can you explain that? I can't explain it but I know
it's true. Now over here I can explain that. I can understand
this and that's true. Everything John just said to
those people is absolute truth. It says in verse 34, For he,
Christ, whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God, for God giveth
not the Spirit by measure unto him. Like Peter said, you're
the Christ. Everything you say is the Word
of God because you are God. I know that. It's truth. Everything
comes out of your mouth because you are the truth. And we have
the Spirit by measure. That's why we pray and ask the
Lord's Spirit to be with us, to guide us, to instruct us,
give us wisdom. Be with us always. We pray for
His presence with us more and more. But our Lord did not get
it measured to Him. And that's something. We have
it as He's pleased in His wisdom. It wasn't measured to Christ.
He didn't get a helping. He was one with the Spirit. It's
His Spirit. He's one with that. Paul said,
for in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. All the
fullness of the almighty triune God dwelled in a man that walked
this earth, the God-man. Isn't that amazing? We just entered
into that. How did that happen? I don't
know, but he did it. I know that. It's sealed in my heart. He's
true. That's the truth. Sixth, all of this, the sovereignty,
the humbleness, the need, the bowing, the rejoicing, the furtherance
of the gospel, the saving of His elect is because, it's the
root cause of all that, the Father's love for His Son and those that's
with Him. Look in verse 35. The Father
loveth the Son and hath given all things into His hand. loveth, just like hath. That
means He has loved the Son, He does love the Son, and He will
always love His perfect Son and those to whom that bridegroom
is wed. Those that are one with Him.
Those are made one with Him. People say, God loves everybody.
No. The Father loves the Son and those that are one with Him.
That's it. Kevin, I don't think you're right.
You don't receive me. That's what God's Word says,
doesn't it? He loveth the Son. Well, does that offend you? That
doesn't offend me. That's hope. That's assurance,
buddy. If I'm in Him, the Father loves
Him and He's accepted. He's already seated on the right
hand of God. We're there with Him. We may like Him one day.
That's something. And it says he hath given all
things into his hand. That children's song is saying
he's got the whole world in his hands. I ain't too fond of that
because people abuse it. I hope not to be. But do you
imagine that? Everything in this world, all
of it, every molecule, every electron, neutron, proton is
in his hand. He sustains it. He keeps it.
He moves it where he wants to move it. Everything. What if
a moon come unglued, asteroids coming at us? It's in His hand.
Every bit of it. All things are in His hand. You
think of something. If my shoelace is tied, that's
in His hand. What about my pain? What about
my joy? It's in His hand. And that's the one that the Father
loves. That's something, man. He is who, this is what John's
getting at him, says in 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 in him. John in
Christ is preaching to more people than you are, and his disciples
are baptizing more people than you are. He says, good, he's
who you must believe to live. Go hear him. Good. Go to Him. That's who you can
hear. You can hear John or Peter or any of them. Good. Go to them.
Go sit underneath them. Hear of Christ. I thought immediately of that
as we closed. That man that had a son with
an unclean spirit. Do you believe that? Do you believe
everything John said? I do. I believe everything in me. I forget it sometimes. I get
weary and I get doubtful. I believe that. The Lord has
put that in me to believe. I'm thankful for it. But I thought
of that man with an unclean spirit in his son, and I kept throwing
him into fire. And he says, Lord, my son's all
scarred up, and if this keeps happening, he's going to burn
to death. He's going to kill him. If you're pleased, will you help
us? Will you be with us? Will you show compassion to us? Do
something about my son, Lord. And Jesus said unto him, If thou
canst believe, if you can believe, all things are possible to him
that believeth. And that father straightway He cried out, and
it says, He said with tears, earnestly. This ain't a show.
This ain't an insurance policy. He cried out and said with tears,
Lord, I believe. Help thou my unbelief. I believe
you, Lord. I have faith. Grow my faith.
I have love in me. Teach me love. You give me your
grace, Lord. Let me grow in grace. I believe
you. You're true. That's sealed to
my heart. Lord, help my unbelief. I feel
like that's all I am. I hope that was a blessing to
you. If we decrease, that's a decrease
pretty good, isn't it? If you know you have unbelief,
that's because you believe. Lord, help my unbelief. He will,
because he'll be increased. That'll be so. Father, thank
you for this hour you've given us. Lord, thank you for your
Word. Thank you for the men of old you've sent, the prophets.
Thank you for John the Baptist. Thank you for the message that
you put in them to preach. Thank you for these men these
days, Lord. Those that you've sustained, that you've anointed,
that you've sent out, that you keep. Lord, keep them to the
end. Let them prophesy without ceasing until you take the breath
out of them. Thank you for our brethren, Lord.
Those that you've called out. Those that you've let us witness.
Let us see You work in them. Oh, how we rejoice. Thank You
for Your Word. Lord, we believe Your Word. We
believe You, Son. Help our unbelief. Turn our hearts,
Lord. Decrease us and our unbelief. Exalt Christ in us and let us
believe on Him. Thank You for this day, Lord.
Forgive us for what we are. It's in Christ's name that we
ask it. Amen.