I was never in the army. I played
a lot in the army when I was a boy. I used to like to do that. There
is one I salute, my captain, the king. Back to John chapter 3. I just didn't know what the title
is, there's just so much here. The bulletin says, The Friend
of the Bridegroom. That's good, that applies. I've
got written down here, Him Whom God Hath Sent, or He Must Increase. Terry, whatever you want to pick,
just choose one as a title. But all I want to do is, again,
just go down through these verses, verse by verse, a running commentary on these
verses. God's Word is very clear and
very plain, and I will just draw our attention to some of these
things that are said here. All right, let's look at it,
beginning with verse 22. Let's dive right in here. Verse 22, John 3, After these things came
Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judea. Now stop right
there. Every word in God's Word is significant. If we had eyes to see, You know,
one of the men that's here this morning was advised by someone
not to spiritualize too much. Talking about the Old Testament.
Not to fool with the types in the Old Testament too much. Well, if we had eyes to see and the wisdom understanding
to see every word, every phrase has eternal significance. Every gesture the Lord made,
every word he spoke, every step he took had divine significance
and eternal consequences. Right? If we had the understanding. I tell you, we don't spiritualize
enough. That's certainly the problem
with most preaching today. Well, it says that after these
things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judea. Judea. Did he just start to say, well,
where am I going to go today? I think I'll go to Judea. What is Judea? Where is Judea? Judea is Judah. the land of Judah, the tribe
of Judah. Who is this coming to, the tribe
of Judah? It's the lion of the tribe of
Judah. Listen to the scripture. Listen. It says, The scepter shall not
depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until
Shiloh come. This is Shiloh who has come to
Judah. Listen to this. in Jeremiah 23. It says here, The days come that
I will raise unto David a righteous branch, and a king shall reign
and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved. Who is this come to Judah? This
is the line of the tribe of Judah. This is the king who's come.
This is the righteous branch of David. This is Jehovah, Sid
Kenneth, come to Judah. After these things, he came to
Judea. Oh, we could preach an hour on
the line of the tribe of Judah, if you've never heard that before. and get the tape or something.
Oh, my, I'd like to dwell there. At any rate, the Lord has come
to his temple. You remember our study back in
chapter 2 where the Lord came to his temple. The Lord has come
to his temple. The lion has come to Judea, and
read it. It says he tarried there. He
tarried with them and baptized. Every word. You could tarry there. He tarried with them. Emmanuel
came and tarried here. God! Who? You know, I was trying
to think of some famous person that I've ever entertained in
my home. I can't think of any. Maybe you
have. Maybe someone famous has been
in your home, and maybe you'd like to tell people about it.
He came and he stayed with me. He tarried there, God with us. Somebody visited us. Those disciples on the road to
Emmaus, remember they went back and said, what a visitor we just
had. He tarried with them. And there
he baptized. Now, this is mentioned, I think,
four times in four verses here. Look at it, read on, it says,
John was not cast into prison, verse 25 and 26. There arose
a question between John's disciples and the Jews about purifying,
and they came to John and said, Teacher, he that was with you
beyond Jordan, to whom you witness, behold, the same baptizes. Baptism is spoken several times
here in just a few verses. Baptism, what is it? It says
that Christ baptized. Well, what is it? Now, we need to stop right here,
because it's important. The Lord mentions something once, it's
important. He mentions it twice. It's doubly important. Three
times, four times. Baptism. What is baptism? Baptism is the public confession
of faith in Christ. Baptism is the public confession of faith in
Christ. Not coming down the front. Scripture doesn't say anything
about that. Coming down the front, shaking the preacher's hand,
and giving your personal testimony doesn't say anything about that.
But this is. spoken of quite often. It's the
public confession of faith in Christ. It's a public declaration
to everyone. By the person being baptized,
it's a public declaration saying, when Christ came, he came for
me. When Christ came, he lived for
me as my righteousness. When Christ died, I died. He took my sins on him, on the
cross. He was buried. That's what you
do in the baptism. Under the water, you put somebody
down under the water. When Christ was buried, I was
buried with him, and he put my sins away. When Christ arose
from the grave, I arose with him and am now seated with him
in the And there, in the person of my mediator, I live, my intercessor,
my substitute, I live. My life is hid with Christ in
God. That's what baptism is, a declaration
of faith in Christ. It's a public declaration. When
someone was married in here not long ago, Mr. and Mrs. Bobbitt
were married in here not long ago. What they did when they
came down here was they made a public declaration before everyone
of their commitment to one another. And that's what marriage is,
commitment. And of their love to one another,
telling everyone, I love this man, I love this woman, I am
committing to them, we are one, these two become one. But Paul
said, I'm telling you a mystery, I'm talking about Christ and
the Church. Isn't it? Ephesians 5. And this is, as it were, that
ceremony. where you make a public declaration
of love and commitment to, this is the Christ you're saying,
this is the one I love, this is the one I'll die till death
do we not part, but unite. This is the one that I'm living
for and would die for, and this is my husband, my maker, my Christ,
my Savior. See, that's what baptism is. public declaration. Peter said
this, that baptism is the answer of a good conscience toward God.
What is baptism? It's the answer of a good conscience
toward God. Peter said it's not the putting
away of the filth of the flesh. Baptism doesn't save you. Baptism doesn't save you. I've
told you before about some people that believe you need to be baptized
in a running stream because that way your sins will go downstream. You don't believe that, do you?
But it's so. That's how superstitious some
people are. It doesn't put away your sins.
There's only one thing that will put away your sins, and that's
the blood of Christ. There's a fountain filled with
blood, drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunged beneath
that blood. They lose all their guilty stains. That's the only river that will
wash away our sin. But this is the answer of a good
conscience. This is saying that. When you come here, you say,
only the blood of Christ can put away my sin. That's what
baptism says. This is obedience to the divine
command. How important is baptism? Well, God came down here to earth. God came down to earth. And he sanctioned two ceremonial
things. Two things that he sanctioned.
Two things that he participated in. Two things. He doesn't say
anything about holy water. He doesn't say about going through
the this and that and the other, any kind of ceremony, but two
things. One was baptism, and the other
was what? The Lord's table. The Lord's
table. Well, and both of them are talking
about his death, you see. His sacrifice. How important
is baptism? Like I said, God came down here.
The Lord Jesus Christ, God in human flesh, the Son of God,
was baptized. Now, come on, you understand? He's had no sin. Why is he being
baptized? You ever think about that? Why in the world is the Lord
Jesus Christ That's what John said. Remember when John said,
I need to be baptized with you.
Why? He's showing us just how important
this is. Now listen to me. Turn over to
Mark 16. Don't listen to me, listen to God's word. Mark 16.
Turn over there. How important is it? Listen to
what I say now. Though it does not save you,
baptism does not save anyone. It cannot. It's impossible. Just
like the blood of bulls and goats, it can't save. But what that typifies is the
only one that can. That's the reason God disdained
all of those bloods. Remember in Isaiah 1, he said,
I'm full of these sacrifices. Away with them. Why? They weren't
mixed with faith. They were bringing them just
because it was some kind of ritual they were going through. Right?
And baptism, everybody get baptized. Well, it doesn't mean a thing
if it's not by faith. In Christ, if a person doesn't
come with a heart with the heart, man believeth, unto righteousness. And in this way, open confession
is made. It doesn't save you. It won't
save you, but you can't be saved without doing it. Isn't that so? Let's read what
the Lord says here in Luke, or Mark 16. Here is the order also. He said unto them, Go ye into
all the world, and preach the gospel. This is the power of
God unto salvation, to everyone that believes in it. The gospel
of the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, his righteousness,
his shed blood for the remission of sins, his intercession, his
mediation. The gospel is the is the declaration
of the person and work of Christ. Preach the gospel, preach Christ
and him crucified. He that believeth, read on, verse
16, he that believeth, what's that? The gospel, the gospel,
Christ only, his blood and righteousness. He that believeth and . . . is what? Baptized shall be saved. How important is it? He that believeth not shall be
damned. And they will be baptized, of
course. How important is it? You can't be saved without it. Now, here's the point. Turn to
Luke chapter 12. Turn over to Luke chapter 12. If you can be baptized, you must. You must. The thief on the cross
could not, could he? He could not. Was he saved? Certainly he was. But if you
can, you must. You must. If you do not. If you can and do not. You're
denying the Lord Jesus Christ. Look what he says here in Luke
12. How important is it? It's eternally
vital. Verse 8, he says, I say unto
you, whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the
Son of Man confess before the angels of God. How's that? Baptism. But, verse 9, he that denies
me before men shall be denied before the angels of God. How
important is it? Why do I dwell on it right now? Because it's vital. If anyone
in here professes faith in Christ Jesus and has not been in that
pool, he'd better get in the pool. That's all I'm going to
say about that. The scripture doesn't say much
about it, but it needs to be said. John chapter 3, and it says they
were in much water. Verse 23, they were in much water.
That's what baptism means. Immersed. And infant baptism
and sprinkling is a mute point then, isn't it? He that believeth,
how can a baby believe? Sprinkling, baptism means immersed. Mute pointed. Then there arose a question between
John's disciples and the Jews about purifying. They came to
John and said, "'Teacher, he that was with thee beyond Jordan,
to whom you bore witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men
come to him.' It says there is a question about purifying, water. The Jews believed that you washed
your hands, you washed the dishes, and you washed this and you washed
that, and you washed, washed, washed. They were constantly
washing everything. Water. And they came to John. John was baptizing, and that
got them thinking about water. And they said, Well, what about
this purifying thing? Well, we must be washed, yes. We must be purified, yes. They
asked about this, and this is the age-old question, John David. This is still the age-old question.
Purification before God? Listen to this. This was asked
in the oldest book of the Bible, Job. He said, How then can he
be clean that is born of woman? Even the moon shineth out, yea,
stars are not pure in his sight, how much less man that is a worm. How can man be pure in God's
sight? Well, these fellows said, there
arose a question about purifying, and said, this one you bore witness
of, that goeth unto him. Anybody catch that? He says,
there arose a question about purifying, and they said, well,
everybody's born to him. Well, John said, well, yes. The answer to the question is,
yes. We didn't ask a yes or no question.
We said, what's this thing of purifying? John said, and I told
you before. John held a three-day meeting,
and every day he had the same text, didn't he, John, or Stan? John said, you must not have
heard my last message. I'm going to try to get you.
Read on here. He says a man can receive nothing
except it be given him from above. A man can receive nothing except
it be given him from above. Now, John, there's a twofold
meaning right here, a twofold meaning. Now, speaking of us, speaking of us, all is of grace. Everything is by God's grace. That's what we were studying
this morning. The scripture says in James,
every good and perfect gift cometh from above. This is what John
is saying here. A man can receive nothing except
it be given him from above." Now, listen to 1 Corinthians
2. It says, "...the natural man receiveth not the things of God,
their foolishness to him, neither can he know them." Listen to
John 1, verse 12. It says, "...as many as received
him." Talk about receiving. As many as received him, to them
he goes into power to become the sons of God, which were born. They received him. Why? They
believed him. Why? Do you want to use the word,
accept? Don't. They believed him. Why? Which were born, not of
blood, not of the will of flesh, not of the will of man. But what
of God? Talking about this all the way
through, the first four chapters of John, aren't they? John started
out to say, it's got to come down from above. Our Lord said in John chapter
3, Nicodemus, you've got to be born from above. And here it
is in chapter 4 again, and it comes a little confused. He said,
I told you before, this thing's of God, he says. This is all
of grace. Well, you said that the other
day, that's all it said. It's just one message. What is
it? Sovereign grace. That this whole thing from start
to finish is of him who is the Alpha and Omega, the beginner
and the finisher, the author and the finisher of our faith.
that he that hath begun a good work in you will finish it."
What's the message? What's the point here? The point
is, a man can receive nothing except to be given him from above. Here's twofold. A man can receive
nothing. Christ is the gift come from
above. Right? He is the one come from
above. He's given He's the given one,
come from above. Verse 28, John said, You yourselves
bear me witness. He said, I told you before that
I said I am not the Christ, that I'm set before him. I'm not the
Christ, John said. I told you that before, and I'll
tell you again. Well, who are you? I'll tell
you that again. I'm nothing. He must increase,
but I am not to decrease. He wouldn't even say voice this
time. He wouldn't tell them his name the first time, and he wouldn't
even say voice the second time. Who are you, then? I told you, I'm important. Read verse 29. Here's the whole crux of the
matter. Verse 29. He that hath the bride
is the bridegroom. Who is this talking about? Well,
who is the bridegroom? Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the head of the Church. Paul talked about the man being
the head of the woman as Christ's head of the Church. He's the
bridegroom. She's the bride. I just quoted
Ephesians 5. I tell you a mystery of Christ
and his Church. He's the bridegroom. That's what
the scriptures and Revelation speaks of. Quite often the bride,
he that hath the bride, the bride is the bridegroom. The church
is his church, it's his bride. They belong to the Lamb. Over
in Revelation it says, come, the angel says, come and I will
show you the Lamb's wife. The Lamb's wife. You ladies,
do you mind being introduced, do you mind being introduced,
Mrs. Bible? No, you're not ashamed of him. That's what's wrong with
his stuff today, with these women not taking the man's. Man, it all works together. This is all indicative of modern
theology. The problem is right here. The problem is right here. He says
here, he that hath the bride is the bridegroom. He ain't the
bridegroom. He ain't even in the bride. But the bridegroom, he hath the
bride, and read it, read on, he which the friend of the bridegroom
standeth and heareth him, listen, stay with me now, the friend
of the bridegroom standeth and heareth him, that is, the bridegroom,
the groom, and rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice.
This is my joy fulfilled, he says. Friend of the groom, standeth,"
it says here. Standeth? Where does he stand? That best man that stood down
here, what did he do? Where would he stand? Right in front of me? Or right
up front where all the people could see? Here I am, who are
you? Well, I'm the best man. Well, he didn't come here to
see you. Get out of the way. No, he didn't do that. That's
not what the friend of the bridegroom does, does it? He stands, where
does he stand? Over the side. He stands over the side. I mean,
he is the bridegroom's boy. Not the plane of here comes the
bride. You see? Now listen, I'm not
splitting hairs here. This is what's wrong. This is
what takes place in modern theology, in modern worship, so to speak. Modern weddings are held in the
same way that theology is, that men believe. Right? Who comes sweating down the aisle?
Excuse me. Sorry, Wendy, who comes walking
down the aisle, and everybody stands and looks with adoration
at this beautiful, oh, she took a lot of make-up and a lot of
real expensive dress, but here she comes, you know. Here comes
the bride. And I'll not repeat that old
song we used to say as a kid. Here she comes, and the groom
is standing over here beside all shucks. You know, when nobody's
paying any attention to the groom, all sort of little, subtle, you
know, here she comes. He's just a part. He's just a part of things. He's
just there because you meet a groom and you're going to get married.
Right? Well, here comes the bride! That's
not the way it is with these two. That's not the way it's
going to be in glory. And that's not the way it is
now. We don't give man all the glory. We don't glorify the church
and abide in the man. We say, here comes the good. In glory, when the Lamb's marriage
is going to take place, you know who's coming walking down the
aisle? Jesus! We're going to be standing over
the side saying, Oh me, oh my, oh my. And here comes the altogether
lovely and everybody with standard attention and admiration of the
Bridegroom. And you see how religion is today?
making much of man and very little of Christ. Well, here's the choir,
and here's this and here's that. Where's the boom? That's what
I want to say. Where's the boom? Like Isaac
said going up to that mountain, Daddy, here's the wood, here's
the hay and stubble. He could have said that. Here's
the fire, where's the lamb? There's only really one important
thing here, and that's the lamb. And that's what John said in
the beginning. John said, Behold the Lamb. We've
got to have a Lamb. And they said, Is that all you've
got to say? He said, That's all there is to say. That's all God's saying from
Genesis 1 to Revelation 22. Behold the Lamb! And that's what God's people
are going to be doing throughout eternity. John said, well, I'll tell you
another way. The bridegroom, if he didn't
behold the lamb, behold... The whore on Hosea said, I'm
going to love that one. A harlot? A whore? Hosea said,
yes! That one, the unlovely one, the
unworthy one, that one! I choose that one, but there's
another Bob, that one!" And he took her and cleaned her up and
washed her and put her on his arm and strutted out of there
with her. And look at my bride. This is what I've done. It's
who I've chosen. We'd have never done it like
that. Oh, man. We men, we don't choose. The old song says, if you're
going to be happy the rest of your life, get yourself an ugly
woman for a while. Isn't that what it says, Stan?
Who sung that song? Some black group back in the
sixties. But we don't do that. We look
for the prettiest. That's not the way Christ does
things. He gets the black sheep. He gets the lowdown. centers,
the worst. Paul said, I'm the chief of centers. He said, I'm a pattern of salvation. This is the one God saves, the
worst. The Domers, the Rahabs, the Tamars,
the Mary Magdalenes, the Matthews, the Zacchaeus, that's who he
saves. And, buddy, they're going to
be their friends. They're the bride and their friends,
too. and they're going to be standing there that day, what
are they going to be doing? Beholding the bridegroom. That's
their joy. And it's sinners' joy now. Their
joy is fulfilled in hearing of him. Who wants to hear the message
of Christ crucified? Do you want to raise your hand
right now? I'm not asking you to. But if you're a sinner, I mean
a gomer. an unlovely, ungodly sinner. What do you want to hear about?
Who do you want to hear about? What rejoices your heart? What
message? The bridegroom. Oh, the bridegroom. And John
said, you know, I was thinking about this, that John, I bet
you spent some time I'm sure he did. Did you ever think about
that? I'm just sure he did. Back there
when Christ came to him, and a lot of time took place in the
next couple of chapters, I believe that they got together. And what a precious time that
was for John. That's how he knew who he was.
Well, it says here, my joy. Look at verse 30. My joy is fulfilled. You see, he must increase, but
I must decrease. You see, when Christ, if you're
the bride, if you're the friend of the bridegroom, like this
man, John said, My joy is fulfilled in hearing his voice. John said,
My joy is fulfilled in seeing his face. John said he must increase
and I must decrease. This is the mark of a true bride. This is the mark of a true disciple,
a true preacher. This is the mark of a true Christian.
This is the mark of the saved Ursa. Jesus Christ is the object
of their worship. He gets all the glory. As I said, John refused to mention
his own name. He wanted more and more to fade
into the background. And he says here, he must increase,
but I must decrease. Listen to me now. This is a fault
that they find with Grace preaching. They say, that's about all he
preached. I read Colossians 3.11 and it
says, Christ is all. Well, I've told you so many times,
but do you remember when they mocked Brother Richardson? They said to him, all you preach
is gospel. That woman came up to him and
said, all you preach is gospel. I've got it written down here
in my Bible, gospel, gospel, gospel, gospel. And God said,
would you put that on my tombstone? Please, put that on. All he ever
did was preach the gospel. God forbid Paul said that I should
glory, saving the cross of Christ Jesus my Lord. See, this is progressive. You know, the more you see of
Christ, the more glorious he becomes. As Christ becomes greater and
more glorious in your mind and your heart, we become more and
more worthless. Man becomes more and more out
of the equation entirely. Right? Just entirely. As he becomes
your all, you become nothing at all. Right? As Christ becomes your all, you
become nothing at all. And John, this is what John is
saying. Is that clear to you, John? Is that clear to you, John,
2 John? No, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John. 2 John. Is that clear to you? He started out by saying, a man
can receive nothing except to be given from the bride. I told
you before, he was the bride's bridegroom, and the friend of
the bridegroom who hears his voice and standeth and seeeth
the bridegroom, he rejoices in the bridegroom. His joy is fulfilled. He must increase, I must decrease. He that comes from above, look
at verse 31, he that comes from above is above all. Is that all you've got to say,
John? Well, yes, it is, come to think
of it. He's all. What about you, Paul? Yeah, that's all Paul's got to
say. Listen to this in Colossians
1. He says here, and you'll read
all the way through the epistle, "'He is the image of the invisible
God, the firstborn of every creature, for by him were all things created.'
that are in heaven, that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities of power. All
things were created by him and for him. He's before all things,
and by him all things consist. He's the head of the Church,
the body, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things he must have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that
in him should all formless dwell." Is that all? No, it's not. In
him dwelleth all the formless that we've got here at Butler.
And you're complete in him which is the head of all principality
and power. Anything else, Paul? Yes. Christ is all and in all. That's all there is. Case dismissed. And that's what John's saying.
To him, give all the prophets witness. To him, give all the
apostles witness. To him, give the early Church
Fathers witness. To him, give every friend of
the bridegroom, every preacher, your true friend. Your true preacher and pastor
and friend, what's he going to do? He's going to wear you out. He's going to beat you. He's
going to bring you down. He's going to whip you. He's
going to fleece the sheep. Peter, do you love me? Yea, Lord. Feed my sheep. Will I feed them? I am the bread of life. I am
the water of life. Feed my sheep. I am the sheep
food. I am the green pastures. I am
the still waters. I restore souls." But you've
got to straighten people out. He's the plumb line. Isn't he? He's the line in the
plummets. He'll straighten people out. If I straighten you out, you'll
be like Spurgeon's disciple. It won't last for long, but what
God doth shall be for you. I told a young pastor this, and
I'll quit with this. I told a young pastor the other
day, he was talking about, Don't you have to preach this and do
that?" And yes, we go. I told him, I said, you know,
you go verse by verse through the scriptures, you'll declare
all the counsel of God. You won't be sidetracked by any
one thing. You'll not give more attention
to one thing than another and so forth. It'll all fall right
into place. You preach verse by verse. That's
the key. But I told him this. There's only one way you're going
to get people to fall out of love with sin. And when you talk about wanting
to straighten people out and wanting people to act right and
live right and all that, there's only one thing that will do that. What's going to keep me from
going out on my wife? Because the law tells me not
to. Because I got written on my bedroom
wall, thou shalt not commit adultery. My love, the love of men, constraineth
me." Right? He found love for her. And I need to be reminded, I
need to be told that, but how often? I mean, if it's not here
in the heart, no matter how much you tell me. I'm going to do
it. Isn't that right? Doesn't he say in 1 Timothy,
the law is not made for a righteous man? My love for Mindy constrains
me, and the more I'm in love with her, it will constrain me and restrain
me. What is it that constrains us
to do and serve Christ? and not go out on him, so to
speak? The love of Christ constrains
me. You want people to fall out of love with sin? If they fall
in love with Christ, that will do it. It's like that illustration,
I'll quit with it. A preacher once told a story of
going into a restaurant one time, and there was a family sitting
beside his family over at the table, next table. And there's
a little boy there who had an ear of corn that he was just,
oh, he was chewing that. I had it all over his face, and
he just was loving that ear, that roasting ear. Oh, man, he
was getting into it. It was time to go. And that boy
was still just trying to get every colonel he could, and his
mama said, Come on, son, let's go. We've got to go. And he pitched
a fit. He didn't want to go. She said,
Put that corn down. And the preacher said that they
just about got in a fight, like most pitiful parents do today
with their kids. But at any rate, he didn't want
to let go of that corn. She said, Put it down. They said
they were dragging him away and trying to bring him... And you know what the preacher
said, what he did? He said, he went up to the counter
up front and purchased one of these sugar daddies. Any of you old enough to remember
sugar? They still make those on a stick, you know, chocolate
and caramel underneath a sugar daddy? and went back to that
little boy and stuck it out there, and that boy, he said, that corn
hit the floor. You see, the only way to make
him turn loose that corn is to find something better. If Christ is all, if Christ ever
becomes all of God's people, they fall in love with him, they
see that Christ is so much better. than this world, than religion,
than my righteousness? You'll be like Barnabas, you'll
get rid of that rag so fast, and run to Christ. And you'll hear his voice and
the preaching of it, and you'll say, that's what I need, that's
better, oh, that's so much better, that's so much better. Okay,
Joe, what's that number, 509, the sands of time? That's a good song. She's played
that for the offertory. I think it's the third verse
of the last one that says, "'Bride, eyes not her garment, but her
dear bridegroom's face.'" Let's make sure and sing that verse,
OK? It's right there, the first and
last. The sands of Anaheim are gleaming,
the sky is gray. The sun born of life from the trash we throw away. is is. the home of the King of Grace.
God has the crown he gives us, the throne he gives us then. The Lamb is all the glory of God, Emmanuel.