I want you, if you would, turn
to John chapter three. John chapter three. And I'm gonna
begin reading in verse 30 of John chapter three. Well, I believe this is a great
and a glorious statement right here. He must increase. but I must decrease. He that cometh from above is
above all. He that is of the earth is earthly,
and speaketh of the earth. He that cometh from heaven is
above all. And what he hath seen and heard,
that he testifieth, and no man receiveth his testimony. He that
hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true. For he whom God hath sent speaketh
the words of God. For God giveth not the spirit
by measure unto him. The father loveth the son and
hath given all things into his hand. He that believeth on the
son hath everlasting life. And he that believeth not the
Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. Well, that's the title. He must increase, but I must
decrease. Now this is John the Baptist
speaking here. John the Apostle recording it. And if you back up to, Verse
25, it says, 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 baptizes, and all men
come to him. And this is part of John's answer
to them. Because he said, yes, that's
what I said. He's the one. Jesus Christ is
the referral Jesus Christ is the one whom John the Baptist
bore witness of You were there, and you heard
me say John the Baptist say I am NOT the Christ But I am sent
before him I Am sent before him John said,
in his illustration, verse 29, he says, I'm not the bridegroom.
I'm the friend of the bridegroom. And the bridegroom is preeminent. It's not that he should be preeminent.
He is preeminent. I'm the friend of the bridegroom.
I'm not the one. He's the one. He told me, he
says, there's one that walks among you, whom ye know not. whose shoes I'm not worthy to
unlace. John did baptize Jesus Christ
at Christ's own insistence. The wedding is for the bridegroom,
not the friend of the bridegroom. And John is referencing The direct
context of this verse, he is referencing the attention and
following of Jesus Christ's ministry as opposed to his own ministry. He must increase, and I must
decrease. He was the forerunner. He was
the one that came before. Now, the bridegroom is here. And the bridegroom is preeminent. He must increase, let's be clear,
is not speaking of Jesus Christ increasing in power, or glory,
or wisdom. Because Jesus Christ is the power
of God, the glory of God, and the wisdom of God. He was not getting better. He's
God. There's no room for improvement
in Jesus Christ. There's plenty of room for improvement
in us, but there's no room for improvement there. That's not
what John was writing about and not what John the Baptist was
saying. What he was saying was, however, more people were knowing
him and being called by him and his ministry had been increasing
because the bridegroom is now here. and he is preaching the
truth. He is preaching the gospel. However, he must increase but
I must decrease is such a great statement about the child of
God and his or her understanding and perception And that's what
I'm going to talk about today. And I do believe John kind of
references this as he goes on past it. Because he gets down to the fact
where he that believeth, what? On the sun hath everlasting life.
And he that believeth not the sun shall not see life. And the wrath of God abides on
him. But here it is, he must increase,
but I must decrease. And as I said, these are the
words of John the Baptist. So therefore, pay attention.
This man was the forerunner, the one who came before our Lord
Jesus Christ, preaching repentance. Jesus Christ himself said, among
those that are born of women, there is not a greater prophet
than John the Baptist. John knew some things because
John knew someone. John saw him and said, behold.
Behold! the Lamb of God, the one that
takes away the sins of the world. And how does John explain that
to his disciples? You were there, you heard me.
I said I'm not the Christ. I said behold the Lamb of God. How does John explain that? He
must increase, but I must decrease. I'm gonna tell you something,
I think that's just a perfect statement. He must increase, but I must
decrease. The truth of God spoken by the
prophet John, and not only does it apply to Jesus Christ and
John standing in Israel, their ministries, I think it actually
should be the way every single child of God feels about his
Lord Jesus Christ. And I mean by that, to qualify
it, everyone that has truly seen the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son
of God, the Lamb of God. Because I believe every believer
knows this statement, whether consciously or not. whether you
ever thought about it or not. This is the attitude of a believer.
He must increase, but I must decrease. Now let's be clear here. As John
said, the unbeliever doesn't care. The unbeliever doesn't
care because the unbeliever doesn't know. And the unbeliever doesn't
know because the unbeliever has never seen our Lord Jesus Christ. And he hasn't seen because his
mind is blinded to the truth. The unbeliever has no understanding
of the things of the Spirit of God because he cannot know them. I believe he must increase but
I must decrease is a beautiful statement of the submission of
a believer to the Lamb of God. John submitted himself. John
the Baptist submitted himself to our Lord Jesus Christ. He
came before, but he came before speaking of him. And that one
came, that one that the world didn't know, but John knew. John knew him. Behold, the Lamb
of God which taketh away the sin of the world. John put himself in the position
of decrease. Why? Because he saw, behold the
Lamb. He saw the Lamb of God. God manifest
in the flesh. God incarnate in the flesh. And I'll tell you something,
if you ever get a glimpse of him, you're going to say, Whether
you say it with these words or not, he must increase, but I
must decrease. That song we just sang, where
it says, I felt the arrows of distress. You know what that
is? That's but I must decrease. He must increase, but I must
decrease. Now, I do want to make just a
couple of quick points here because I want to be clear about this.
My decrease doesn't increase him. There is no increase to
God. There's no increase to God. He's
perfect. He is the Lamb of God, the well-beloved
Son of God. My decrease doesn't increase
him. It's not a teeter-totter. The natural state of Jesus Christ
is increase. Because the more you see him,
the higher he becomes, what? In your eyes. In your eyes. The more you learn, this is what
it really means, to grow in the grace and the knowledge of our
Lord Jesus Christ. He must increase, but I must
decrease. The more you learn, the higher
you see Him. The more you learn, the more
you understand the scriptures, the more He increases to you. He hasn't changed at all. Jesus
Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He has never
changed. He is never going to change,
and He is not changing now. But our perception of him increases
him in our eyes. But let's also be clear, his
increase doesn't really decrease me. Because my decrease is my
own. I own that. I don't need any help decreasing.
I need help seeing my decrease. I don't need any help with my
decrease. I'm not a sinner because I sin. I sin because I'm a sinner. You're not ungodly because you
do ungodly things. You do ungodly things because
you're ungodly. Shall I continue? We are not
lawbreakers because we break the law. We break the law because
we're lawbreakers. He must increase, I must decrease. My righteousnesses are filthy
rags because I am in and of myself unrighteous. Isaiah 41 and 14 says, fear not
thou worm, Jacob, and ye men of Israel, I will help thee,
saith the Lord, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. I need
help because I am a worm. I need help because I am a maggot. And I need to know that I am
a maggot and a worm. He must increase, but I must
decrease. I haven't changed the old man,
I'm still just as depraved as I ever was. And I need to be
reminded of that every now and then. The longer you live as a believer
in this world, the smaller the opinion should be of yourself. We say it, and I try to mean
it, you can't preach Jesus Christ too high and you can't preach
man too low. And that goes to unbelievers
and believers. That's how you preach. Man still has the old
man in him, even believers. And unbelievers only have the
old man. I don't increase him, but he
increases. He doesn't decrease me, but I
decrease because of learning of him. This is the perception, I believe,
of all children of God. It should be. And this is the
reaction of those who know Jesus Christ. He must increase, but
I must decrease. I'm gonna turn back to Isaiah
six for just a minute. Isaiah chapter six and verse
one. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting
upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the
temple. Above it stood the seraphims.
Each one had six wings. With twain he covered his face,
and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
And one cried unto another and said, what? Holy, holy, holy
is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth. is full of his glory. And the post of the door moved,
and at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled
with smoke, then said I, Isaiah, woe is me. Woe is me, for I am
undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in
the midst of a people of unclean lips. For mine eyes have seen
the king, the Lord, of hosts. He must increase, but I must
decrease. So you read chapter five before
this. I'm not gonna do it, but I'll
point out a couple of things. In verse eight, Isaiah's preaching
the truth. Woe unto them that join house
to house, that lay field to field. That's verse eight. Verse 11,
woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may
follow strong drink. Verse 18, woe unto them that
draw iniquity with cords of vanity and sin as it were a cart of
rope. Verse 20, woe unto them that call evil good and good
evil. And boy, we're surrounded by
that now. I mean, it's true, woe unto them. They that put
darkness for light and light for darkness. That put bitter
for sweet and sweet for bitter. Man always gets it backwards. Exactly backwards, Mason. One to them that are wise in
their own eyes. One to them that are mighty to
drink wine and men of strength to mingle strong drink. Then
Isaiah sees the Lord. And guess what? It ain't woe
unto them, woe unto them, woe unto them. Although he adds them
in later. He says, woe is me. Woe is me. What happens when
you see Claude? What happens when you see Jesus
Christ? He must increase, but I must
decrease. And guess what? Neither one of
you changed positions. He was the Lord high and lifted
up before Isaiah saw him. What's the difference? He showed
himself to Isaiah. And Isaiah said, woe is me. Now
he said, I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.
Woe unto them too. But before it was all, woe is
them, woe is them, woe is them. No, you see God, it's woe is
me. And that's what you will not hear in the majority of churches
around here. And in the majority of churches
in the world. I know there's a lot of truth on the internet,
Mason, but boy, is there a lot more error. He must increase, but I must
decrease. He didn't change at all, but
he changed Isaiah. Mephibosheth told David the king,
and he bowed himself and he said, what is thy servant that thou
shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I? Why does the king regard Mephibosheth? the king wanted to regard Mephibosheth
for Jonathan's sake. But Mephibosheth knew when he
saw the king in his glory, he still knew he was lame on both
his feet. The king, seeing the king, causes
Mephibosheth to see the king's glory in his own lameness. He must increase, but I must
decrease. Moses said unto him, show me
thy glory. Told God that. Asked the Lord,
show me thy glory. And the Lord said unto him, and
I will make all my goodness, my goodness, pass before thee,
and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee, and
will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy
on whom I will show mercy. What is the glory of the Lord?
According to the Lord, it's his goodness. It's his grace. It's his mercy. He says, I'm
gonna show it to you, Moses. But then what happens? He puts
him on a rock, but he puts him in the cleft of the rock. He
says, you can't see it all. Why? Because we can't handle
it all. Not even Moses. God's handpicked man to lead
the children of Israel out of Egypt and across the wilderness. Even Moses can't. He must increase. And I must decrease. You're gonna
be back here. You're gonna see. But you're only gonna see what?
Part. You're only gonna see part. The
only thing of Jesus Christ that you will ever see is what Jesus
Christ shows you. It's revelation. The Holy Spirit
is gonna take the things of mine and what? He's gonna show them
to you. And he can't show them to you
all at once because you can't take it. Our minds are not capable
of handling it. Can't be done. We can't do it. The scripture tell us that God's
glory is given to his son. 2 Peter 1 17 puts it this way,
for he received from God the father, what? Honor and glory
and glory. When there came such a voice
to him from the excellent glory, this is my beloved son in whom
I am well pleased. Moses saw Christ, the goodness
of the Lord, the mercy of the Lord, the grace of the Lord. And he saw that the Lord gives
grace and mercy to whom He will. He must increase. I must decrease. This is the perception and the
attitude of the believer. I do believe that. Jesus Christ
must increase, but I must decrease. And the longer I've been around, the more I've learned. I'm not
bragging here. I'm just saying I'm not as ignorant
as I used to be. Because I used to be pretty ignorant, Paul.
I mean, and I still feel ignorant. But there's a reason. I will
testify that Earl Cochran spoke the truth. You know, it's one
thing to hear it when you're 23. It's another thing to say
it when you're 59. I heard Earl say it. He said, the more I learn, the
less I know. And I have found that to be true,
Walter. The more I have learned, and
I have learned. By his grace and by his spirit, by his word,
I have learned. Thank God I've learned. But the
thing is, the more you learn, you find out the less I know. Because I find out there's more
to learn. There's no way a human mind can
have this whole book in his head, wait a minute, with the understanding
of it. Because the understanding comes
from God. The understanding comes from
Christ. Then opened he their understanding of the scriptures. And he's the only one who can. Because the more I actually learn,
the more I understand how truly small my knowledge is. There's no end to knowing Jesus
Christ. He must increase, but I must
decrease. And as I said in John chapter
3, he sort of continues on in this theme. He that cometh from
above is. above all He that is of earth
is earthly and speaketh of the earth he that cometh from heaven.
He says he is above all He already is above all He's not increasing But our perception
of him increases I He already is above all. He was above all
before he came. He was above all when he came. And he's above all now. He is
the same yesterday and today and forever. I mean, just in
case you weren't sure, he repeats it. He that cometh from heaven.
First he says he that cometh from above is all. And then he
says he that cometh from heaven is above all. But he also says, he that is
of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth. We are not increasing in him. He's perfect. Because we are
of the earth. Earthly frame, earthly mind,
and earthly disposition. We are clay pots. must decrease He must increase
but I must decrease because we speak earthly things the only
heavenly things I can speak of is what he's taught me out of
his word and what his word actually says and What he has seen and heard
that he testifies and no man receiveth his testimony No man
receiveth his testimony And what's he say? He that received his
testimony has set to his seal that God is true. He must increase,
but I must decrease. God is true. And what? Every
man's a liar. He must increase, but I must
decrease. The only ones that received it,
he came unto his own and his own received him not, but to
them that received him. What, which were born, not of
the will of the flesh, not of blood, not of the will of man,
but born of God. For he whom God hath sent speaketh
the words of God, for God giveth not the spirit by measure unto
him. The father loveth the son, and
what, hath given all things into his hand. All things are in His hands right
now. By Him, all things consist. They were made for Him. They
were made by Him. And they were made for Him. And
now, by Him, all things consist. What's that mean? He must increase,
but I must decrease. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. I could just sit right there
for a minute. And he that believeth not the
Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. I believe this is one of the
things that means to believe on the Son of God. He must increase,
but I must decrease. Because this is the reality,
the truth of the world we live in. And this is the reality that
the world itself and those that are still of the world have absolutely
no idea of. His people chosen and brought
out of the world will see Him. He's promised it. They will learn
of Him. He's promised it. He's given
us His Holy Spirit to teach us His things. And I firmly believe this is
what it means to grow in the grace and the knowledge of our
Lord Jesus Christ. He must increase and I must decrease. I'm not saying we understand
it all. I'm not saying we get it all.
But I do believe his people know this. The more they learn of
him, the higher they see him. And the more you learn of him,
the lower you see yourself. We can't even come close to complementing
comprehending his condescension to come down to our level. Now
he was not at our level. He is God, but he came in the
likeness of sinful flesh. He came in the form of a man. He became a man. He is still a man. We don't know that gulf. We can't
grasp it. Because we don't know anything
about true glory, about heaven above. But the more you learn
of him, the more you'll see. And the more you'll see him,
the less you'll see of yourself. He saw us exactly as we are.
And he was exactly as he was. And yet he came down to this
planet. and suffered himself to be crucified,
to live and walk on this cursed earth and crucified for his people,
for the sins of his people. The only increase, my only elevation,
my only hope is in my righteousness in Him, in Christ Jesus. He is my righteousness. I have
no other righteousness. All I have is unrighteousness. Paul wrote this. Yea, doubtless,
and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord. For whom I have suffered the
loss of all things and do count them but done. What? That I may win Christ. And be found in him. Not having mine own righteousness,
which is of the law, but That which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. Everything I had before I count
but done. I suffered the loss of all things
and I counted as nothing. But that I might know Christ.
He must increase, but I must decrease. I believe that. He must increase,
but I must decrease. Our Heavenly Father, we are thankful
for this time, this place. Thank you for all you have done,
because you have done all. You're the redemption. You're
the wisdom. You're the righteousness. You give grace and mercy to those
that you will. And those that you will receive
it and thank God for it. In Christ's name, amen.