Okay, go back to John chapter
3 with me. John chapter 3. The subject here, the title. is confessing Christ. The Lord
was baptizing, and John was baptizing. And the Scriptures tell us that
baptism is a confession of faith in Christ. It's a confession
of faith. And then John preaches right
after that, while he's baptizing. Right after that, he starts preaching.
He did before. He was baptizing in the Jordan.
Remember, our Lord came to be baptized. And John began preaching then. What did he preach? Christ. Well, what does he preach here?
Christ. John confesses. It's his testimony
who Christ is. Our confession of faith is in
Christ. Alright? How important is Look
at verse 22 and 23. After these things came Jesus
and his disciples into the land of Judea. And there he tarried
with them and baptized. John also was baptized in Enon
near Salem because there was much water there. That's immersion,
not sprinkling. Scripture is very clear, isn't
it? John was in the Jordan River. You don't have to stand in a
river to sprinkle. You stand in a river, to put
them under the water. And here, Enon means a land of
springs. So they were ponds. And they
came and were baptized. See how many times it speaks
of baptism? In chapter 1, six times. Baptism. This is the public confession
of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. How important is it? Listen to
the Lord. He said in Matthew 10, verse
32, Whosoever therefore shall confess Me before men, him will
I confess also before My Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny Me,
whoever won't confess Him, I'll deny. Mark, you know this. These verses
in Mark 16, he said to his disciples, go into all the world and preach
the gospel to every creature. Paul said in 1 Corinthians, he
said, I didn't come to baptize, I came to preach the gospel.
But he did baptize. He said, that's not my purpose,
to see how many people I can baptize. And he forgot. He forgot
how many, who he baptized. That's good. And you and I ought
to forget it. Don't write your baptism down.
If you did, erase it. Erase it. Every now and then
I'll come across some old notes and it'll have at the top somebody's
name on there. And I forgot that I marked that. Because that's not salvation.
Okay? You can't be saved without it.
It's not salvation. It's just a confession of salvation.
He said, he that believeth and is baptized, he that believeth
the gospel, go and preach the gospel. That's the power of God
unto salvation. Christ and Him crucified. Go
into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
Brother Cody, that preached here Wednesday, does just that, doesn't
he? Brother Bill Clark, Janine's
father, does just that. I've gone other places, my dad
and other men go all over to preach the gospel. That's what
true gospel preachers do. Not to baptize. But now, Brother
Cody does baptize. It's such a blessing to see it.
It's a blessing to see it whether it's in a primitive village or
if it's here. It's a great blessing. It's a
confession. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. But he that believeth not shall
be damned. And the fact of the matter is,
he that believeth will do his commands. He that really believeth
in Him will believe on Him and confess Him in believers' baptism. Look at verse 22 in our text. Jesus came, His disciples, and
He tarried with them. Oh, my. We haven't gotten very far in
the book of John, or have we? Or have we? We looked at this
twenty years ago, went through it, but it's like I've never
studied it before. And this is why we keep looking
at line upon line, it's just so much there. Then came Jesus. The man, God, was manifest in
the flesh. God came into this world. Yes,
He did. His name was Jesus, Savior, and
His disciples. He had some disciples. Why were
they His disciples? They were His disciples. Why
were they His disciples? He tells us later on in this
book, He says, He didn't choose me. But I chose you. Why? To go bear witness to Him. I chose you. He didn't choose
me. They're His disciples. And if you've been chosen, thank
God. Bound to give thanks for you,
brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God has from the beginning
chosen you to be His disciples. His disciples. What is a disciple?
A follower. A student in the school of Christ. You want to learn more about
Christ? That's all I'm going to do today. That's all I'm going
to do. That's all I have done. Just
telling you what He said. That's a student. A student. A disciple of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He called them brothers. Brethren. They loved each other. They loved
Him. Why did they love each other? Because He first loved them. and put that love in them. He
called them His children, His little children. Are you a child
of God? Are you a little child? Do you
receive the Word as a little child? If you don't, you're not
going to see the Kingdom. But do you receive this Word?
Like right now. Right now. Every word, every line, everything
He said, everything about Him, everything He said deserves our
undivided attention like little children. His disciples. He called them
friends. A little later in this book. He said, I don't call you
servants, I call you friends. Disciples were his friends. They
were his companions. They were his constant companions.
They were the ones that he chose and the ones he was always with.
He was never separated from them. He didn't want to be. He loved
them. They were his close companions
and friends. He said, I call you friends because
I tell you what's on my mind. I tell you my secret. He didn't
tell that to the Pharisees. He didn't tell those things to
anybody else. He told them to his friends. Do you know these
things? You're just like Abraham then.
You're a friend of God. Isn't that amazing? That's all in that word, disciple. His disciples. And He tarried
with them. He tarried with them. Tarried
means stay a while. Remember they were walking on
the road to Emmaus one day? And He was preaching to them?
They didn't know it was Him. They just thought it was a preacher. It is Him talking. Though it's
a preacher. That's what Brother Cody told
us. Those who love him, love his disciples. They love his preachers. And
these men didn't know it was him, they just thought it was
a preacher. And they said, stay here, stay here, don't go. Didn't
they? They didn't know it was him.
And then when he came in and he broke bread, it's him. He tarried. He stayed. Who will He stay with? Those
that ask Him. Would you tarry? Would you stay
with us a while? We know you're not going to stay
here forever. We know your gospel is not going to stay here forever,
O Lord. Please. Would you tarry a while? He tarried
a while. He who had the world to govern,
He who had infinite things to do, There's only so much time
to do them. Stop and tarry with these old
fishermen. Isn't that something? Tarry with them. My children
and grandchildren come to see us and I tarry with them. I love
them. I drop everything to tarry with
them. I love them greatly and enjoy
them. I enjoy them. He tarried. And He baptized. Though chapter 4 verse 2 says
that He Himself did not baptize. Look at it. Look at that. Chapter
4 verse 2 says Christ did not baptize. He did not baptize one
person. But it says He did. Well, did He or didn't He? Yes,
He did. The men didn't. No. Christ did. If you're truly
baptized, Christ did it. Christ did it. This is His work. That's why we shouldn't say,
and they said that, and Cody preached on that. I was baptized
by Paul. I was baptized by Apollos. You
know, the primitive Baptists trace their baptism all the way
back to John, they think. They try. To be a good Baptist,
you have to trace your baptism all the way back to John the
Baptist. No. I want Christ to baptize
me. I want this to be of the Lord,
not man. I could talk your children into
being baptized. I know I could. But I'm not going to do that.
In fact, some have come to me and requested, and I've turned
them down. And it revealed later on that I did the right thing.
Because if you can put somebody off, If you can deter them from
it, if you can keep them from it, the Lord's not in it. But
if you can't, it's up to the Lord. It's up to the Lord. And he baptizes. They baptize.
John baptized. Baptism. Six times in chapter
1. Again here, three or four times.
Our Lord said, he that believeth in his baptism. Baptism is a
public confession of Christ. It's a picture. It's a symbol.
It's a type. It's typical of, it typifies Christ and Him crucified. It's a public confession of faith
in Christ without words. No one that gets in here says
anything. But what they're doing says volumes. It's a public confession of our
guilt. It's a confession of faith in
Christ and Him crucified. It's saying when Christ died
and Christ was crucified, I should have been crucified. And I believe
I was. I reckon myself to be dead in Christ. I reckon I was
crucified in Christ. I believe my sins were paid for
when Christ hung on that cross. And when He was buried, I was
buried. That old man is dead. He's crucified
with Christ. He's buried. And God took my
sins and hid them, buried them. He doesn't dig up bones. There are none. In Christ's grave,
there are no bones. And nor will there be in ours. Because God doesn't dig up bones.
And God doesn't go goat hunting. Baptism is a public confession
of guilt and condemnation. I deserve to be crucified, and
death, and burial, and resurrection. When someone is brought up out
of the water, he's saying, I live. Yep, nevertheless, not I, but
Christ that liveth in me. Baptism is a renunciation of
the world. In 1 Peter, don't turn there,
but in 1 Peter chapter 3, Peter spoke of Noah and the ark. And
I may preach on that Wednesday night. Noah's ark, Wednesday
night. But Peter talked about the ark,
and he said, in that ark, few, eight souls were saved by water. And he said, the like figure,
even baptism, doth now save us. It doesn't put away the filth
of the flesh, but it's the answer of a good conscience. Who was
in that ark? Those that God chose. And I better
go on. I'll deal with it Wednesday.
But why were they in there? God put them in there. Put in that ark, and they went
in that ark and had a good conscience toward God. They believed God. They believed God. That's a good
conscience. A good conscience purged from
dead works. It's not works of mine. You know,
when you confess Christ in believer's baptism, what you're saying is,
my works are evil. His work is my salvation. His
works. That's what I confess before
God. Purged from dead works, not by
works of righteousness which we have done, but according to
His mercy He saved us. Where's that mercy? In Christ,
in heaven alone. Purged from a dead conscience,
conscience of dead works. A good conscience
that believes God, believes Christ, loves Christ. Faith unfamed,
Paul told young Timothy. A pure heart, good conscience,
and faith unfamed. Love for Christ and His gospel.
What you say is, I believe Him. I need Him. He's all my salvation. He said to confess Him. I'm coming.
I'm confessing Him. I know it doesn't save me. It's
just water. If baptism could save anybody,
I'd be more saved than anybody in here. I've been in that pool
a lot. In fact, when I was a boy, and
none of you kids are allowed to do this, but Dad would baptize
and the pool would be full after service, and me and my brothers
would go skinny dipping in it. Huh? That's a good thing, actually.
That's a good thing to show us. That's just water. There's nothing
holy about that. And save anybody. Or else we'd
be plum saved. Swim in it. That's not it. That's
not it at all. It's the answer of a good conscience. Believe Christ. Trust Christ. Believe that His blood, what
is it that washes away our sin? Blood. Baptism is just a picture
of Christ crucified. Say, immerse me in His blood. Purge me from dead works. Cover
me by His blood, like that ark. Baptism is a thing of personal
humiliation. It's a humbling thing. It's a
very humbling thing. And you ladies, you know, you
look real nice. You have your makeup on, your
hair. You spend five hours on your hair. Yes, you do. Yeah,
you do. You go to the beauty parlor.
Right, Teresa? And you spend lots of money and
you look your best. You get this makeup on. Well,
it's all coming off. You're going to come down. You're going to come up. We all
look sane, don't we? We all look like wet rats. We
all look like the flesh that we are, with no covering, no
makeup, right? Nothing but a sinner washed in
the blood. It's a humiliating thing, and
that's good, because the proud will be brought low. Pride and
grace cannot mix. You cannot be a proud believer.
It's not possible. Not possible. Personal humiliation,
we need lots of it. It's glorying in Christ, baptism.
It's a renunciation of the world. When Moab and his family went
into that ark, the whole world was outside. And what they were
saying is, we're not of the world. And the world said, no, you're
right. You're not like us. God shut
the door. Shut the door. Now, now what matters? In Mexico, a predominantly Catholic
country that's just under the bondage of Catholicism, everybody's
sprinkled as a child, right? Some in here were christened,
so to speak. That's not biblical. That's not
scriptural. That's a lie. Baptism is for
believers. But in Mexico, this predominantly
Catholic country, if you are baptized later on, properly,
truly, confessing Jesus Christ in public baptism, you are disowned
forever by your family. You are disinherited. I know
it. Everyone in those pueblos, everyone
in those villages are disinherited by their family. But good news,
they've got an inheritance. I'm going to lose all that anyway.
And maybe some of you, when you confess Christ and confess the
truth, were disowned by your family. It's all right. And all this
is going to perish anyway. But oh, there is an inheritance
reserved in heaven for us that fadeth not away. For all who
confess Him, There arose a question, verse
25, about purifying. Isn't that significant? Right
after baptism. They came to John, a rabbi. They
were asking questions about purifying. If somebody asked you a question
about purifying, what would you say? How are you purified? How are you purified? How is
a man that's born a woman, that's unclean, made clean? How is a
sinner, who's unclean, justified before God. How? Can you answer
that question? If the question arises, can you
tell them about purification? 1 John 1, the blood of Jesus Christ,
God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin. Who is He that condemned them?
Christ died. Purified. Purified. One time in this book, Our Lord
said to His disciples, He said, you're clean. Isn't it? John 13. He started washing their
feet. Peter, wash me off. No, you're
clean. And in chapter 15 He said, through the word that I've spoken,
you're clean. How can that be? Because He said so. Who shall
anything the charge of God select? It's God that justifies it. Who
shall lay anything to charge of God's elect? Who is he that
condemned Christ to die? Yea, he rather is risen again.
He sits at the right hand of God who also makes intercession.
The blood. The blood. The blood. Purified
to the cleansing of the soul. That's no question with us, is
it? It's not a question at all. It's fact. Purified. You're clean. I love the story
in Luke's Gospel, chapter 13. when a leper would come to the
high priest. If you've never read it, read
it at home. The leper would come to the high
priest and the priest would look him all over. And it actually
says this. It says, when the priest would
consider, look at him carefully, and if the leprosy covered him
from head to toe, He said, he's clean. That's what he said. The high
priest pronounced him clean. But the preacher, I don't understand. I do. Some of you do. Meaning,
that person who comes to Christ, and that's what confession is,
comes to Christ as a dirty leper. and worships Him, and sees their
need in Him, and calls upon Him, and believes Him, and casts their
sin on Him, their head, God says, just by believing, clean. The one that says, from the crown
of my head to the sole of my feet, there's no goodness in
me, God says, clean. Any questions? About purifying? It's all in Christ. And then John gave this short
sermon. You didn't think I was going to get to it. It took 90
seconds, 90 seconds for him to say this. I timed it. There had
never been a greater message. And I'm not going to take much
longer than that. Look at it. And John confesses
Christ in a message. He says in verse 26, They said,
Rabbi, behold, the one you bore witness of, he baptized, and
all come to him. John said, yes, and I rejoice. This is my joy, he said, because
all that the Father giveth him shall come. John said, a man
can receive nothing except it be given him from above. Now
he's talking about Christ first, and he's talking about us. As
He is, so are we. He's talking about Christ. Christ
didn't take this upon Himself, but God made Him to be our High
Priest. God made Him to be our Savior. God made Him to be our Christ.
God made Him to be our, to be sin. He received this from the
Father. This commandment, He said, I
have received of the Father. God gave to Him the sheep. They were given to Him. And all
that the Father giveth Him. shall come to you." Oh, that's
my confidence, my hope for those who have not yet come. You know,
all those disciples of John weren't followers of Christ, were they?
Huh? Those disciples came and had
questions about purifying, and they didn't know Christ did. Remember Andrew? He was following
John. He started following Christ. And there are people in here
who have not yet come to Christ. Like those disciples, they believed
John was a preacher sent from God. They believed his doctrine.
They liked to hear him preach, or at least occasionally, I guess. They didn't follow Christ. They
didn't come to Christ. You've got to come to Christ. But all that the Father gives
Him will. It will come. John said, you
bear me witness. I said, I'm not the Christ. I'm
set before Him. He was given this, as we are
given the gift of faith and repentance. A man can receive nothing. Remember
chapter 1, as many as received Him. Remember that? To them gave
He the right to become the sons of God. Why do we receive this? Why do you believe Christ? Do
you repent? Have you repented? Do you repent?
Do you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you love His Word? Do you love His Gospel? Why?
You received it. A man can receive nothing except
to be given Him. It's not of yourselves, it's
a gift of God. Chapter, verse 28, John said,
I'm not the Christ. I'm a nobody. They kept asking
him who he was, didn't they? They kept on, didn't they? I
told you. I'm a nobody. Here's humility. Look at the next line. He said,
verse 30, He must increase, but I must decrease. I'm a nobody. I'm a nothing. Who are you? Nobody. I told you before and
it hadn't changed. I'm a nobody. I am not. I'm nothing. I'm just a friend
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's all I am. Look at verse
29. He that hath the bride is the
bridegroom. They're His. They're His people. The friend of the bridegroom
now that standeth and heareth Him, You know, friends like to
be with friends, don't they? Wife, the bride, likes to be
with her husband, and vice versa. So he stands there, and he hears
the voice of the bridegroom, and rejoiceth greatly because
of the bridegroom's voice. If you're not hearing from the
Lord right now, you're not hearing His voice, and so you're not
rejoicing in Him. But if you are, And you know, our Lord told us
in the Hebrews, He said, hold fast the beginning of your confidence
and rejoice in Him. Don't lose that rejoicing. If
you do, something bad is wrong. Something bad is wrong. Christ
hasn't changed. The Gospel hasn't changed. The
message really hasn't changed. John said, I rejoice. I joy to
hear it. I joy to hear His voice, I joy
to hear His Word, I joy to hear His Gospel. John said, it gives
me great gladness to tell it over and over again. I joy to
hear His voice, His Word, His Gospel. Three marks of a true
child of God. One, they worship God. They worship
God, not with the lips. Spirit, and in truth, the gospel. You've got to have the truth.
You've got to have pride. They worship God in spirit. They
rejoice in Christ Jesus and never quit rejoicing. They rejoice. Paul kept telling the Philippians,
rejoice in the Lord. And again, I say, rejoice in
the Lord. No matter what comes, no matter
who preaches, rejoice in the Lord. Again, that's what Brother
Cody was telling us. It doesn't matter who it is.
This is a glorious message. Rejoice! Joy in the Lord. That's your strength. The root
of bitterness will trouble you, and many will be defiled by it.
Rejoice, I say. And again I say, rejoice. He
said, I have joy in the bridegroom's voice. This is my joy fulfilled,
he said. They said, John, you preached
and some fellows are following Christ. Hallelujah! I wish they all would. That's
what he was preaching, brother John. He was preaching to his
disciples. I told you I'm not him. There he is. Follow him. But I'm doing, John said, this
is my joy. And they have no third time,
they have no confidence in the play. What's the fruit of the
Spirit? What's the first fruit? Love.
What's the second? Joy. Grow in grace. Herein is the Father glorified
that you bear much fruit. Love. See that you love one another's
brethren. Love the gospel. Love His preacher.
Love His people. Love the truth. Joy and rejoice. Joy. John said, He must increase.
I must decrease. He must. You know, when God does
a real work in you, in the heart, you begin to hate yourself. And
the older you get, the more you'll hate yourself. You will loathe
yourself. As Solomon said, this message
that the temple represents Christ is for those that know the plague
of their own heart. They loathe themselves. Humility
denies self, denies everything about ourselves. It humbles self
and glories in the Lord Jesus Christ. He must increase, but
I must decrease. Oh my. Verse 31, He that comes
from above is above all. He that is of the earth is earthly,
speaketh of the earth. He that cometh from heaven is
above all. Oh my, the Lord Jesus Christ
is truly above all. He is above all. Colossians 1
says, He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn
of every creature, for by Him were all things created that
are in heaven or in earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones
or dominions or principality or powers. All things were created
by Him and for Him, and He is before all things, and by Him
all things consist, and He is the Head. In all things he must
have the preeminence. It pleased the Father that in
him should all fullness dwell. And he's the one that made peace
by the blood of his crop. He's above all. Verse 32, And what he hath seen
and heard, that he testify. And no man receives it. He came from heaven. The true
witness, that's what it says of Christ in Revelation 1, the
true witness, the faithful witness, He came from heaven, our Lord
said in this gospel, He said, the words that I speak are not
of myself, but the Father which is in me. I'm telling you the
truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. So help me, God
my Father. Christ said, I am the truth.
Everything I say is the truth. of who God is, of what you are,
and what salvation is, and who I am, and how you can get to
God. It's the truth. It's the way. It's the truth.
And it's your life. You need to hang on My words,
Christ said. My words are life, spirit, and
life. That which is flesh is flesh.
My words will never pass away. Hang on. Right now. Right now. He that hath the Son
hath life. He that hath not the Son Hang on. Our Lord said that. And He's a true witness. My pastor
said three things in the message the week before last on the radio. I jotted them down. He said he was amazed. Three
things he was amazed by. Listen. Speaking of wisdom. He said, Christ is wisdom. He said he was amazed by the
fact that men and women are not interested in Christ. Because we just read that, they
hate true wisdom. They're not interested. That's
amazing, isn't it? He is wisdom. Everything he said was infinite
wisdom. Not interested. He said he was
amazed that they turned to fools for their wisdom. That men and
women turned to utter fools to get their wisdom and hang on
their words. and devote their lives and their
safety like Pharaoh, like Egypt. They hang on the words of fools
and not Christ. And the third thing applies to
us. He said, I'm amazed by the fact
that God's people, who know Christ is wisdom, don't grow in grace
and the knowledge of Him. They are content to stay weak,
beggarly, ignorant. He said, grow in grace and the
knowledge of the Lord. The more you grow in grace and
the knowledge of Christ, the stronger your faith will be,
the less your worries and fears and doubts and all that. The
more you'll love people, the more mature and more like Christ
you'll be, the more forgiving you'll be, the more merciful
you'll be, the more gracious you'll be. But we just stay so
bickered. Why? Why? They won't receive it. This is His testimony, but they
don't receive it. But He that hath, verse 33, He
that hath His testimony received it, has said to His seal that
God is true. Oh, the Son of God has come,
hasn't He, and given us an understanding. We might know Him that is true. And in Him that is true. This
is a true God and eternal life. Who? Jesus Christ. For He whom God has sent speaks
the words of God. John said, God giveth not the
Spirit by measure unto him. Oh my. My dad used to say, you
know when you're preaching. You know when you're saying things,
you have recall of Scripture. Brother Cody and I were talking
about this. You know when the Lord gives you recall and you
think of things you didn't have written down and you have Scriptures
come to mind that you didn't write down. You know. That's
the Spirit of God. And we get it by measure. We
get it in parts. We get it in part. We get it where His Word
never returns void. Never. Never. Never. But sometimes,
and I've heard my pastor preach sometimes, the Spirit of God
is going to hold him. It's so obvious. God didn't give the Spirit by
measure to His Son. Everything He said is life. The Father loveth the Son, verse
35, and hath given all things into His hand. People, pray,
pray, pray that God has given you into His hands. That God has given your children
to Christ. Please pray for them. That God
has given them, because all that the Father giveth Him shall come
to Him. Pray that the Father, without
ceasing, that the Father will give you to Him, to Christ, to
save your soul. He owns it all. He's going to
disperse of it as He will, either sheep or a goat. And He says,
He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. Brethren, I don't believe like
I ought to. I don't believe like I want to.
I don't believe like I'm going to. But Polly, I do believe I'm
the Son of God. Do you? Do you? I really do. I really do. Well, He said you wouldn't have life if you
didn't. Sometimes I worry if I'm a child
of God. Don't you? And the reason being because
of your sins. You start looking at yourself and you have nothing
but doubts and fears and worries. You say, how can I be like John
Newton? He said, when I look within all
is vain and dark and wild, how can I esteem myself his child? John, look up. Don't look within. Look. Hang
it on that cross. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, just look. And John Newton said, Hmm. Could I with joy his saints to
meet, if I did not love him at all? No, John, you've got life. Faint as it may seem at times. He that believeth not the Son
of God, he that does not confess Christ, he that hath not confessed
Jesus Christ, hath not life. And the wrath of God abided upon
it. That's serious, isn't it? It's
a serious message. It may be my last. It may be
your last. Right? There have been several
sitting in this room. It was their last message. What
mattered? What's important? Do they have
the Son? They have life.