You would open your Bibles again
to John chapter 3. The title of the message this
morning is, He Must Increase. That's what John says here in
verse 30. He must increase, but I must
decrease. And I'd like for us to look at
each verse in this text in light of this verse 30. bedrock of
John's final recorded message, and let's look at it in each
verse in light of that verse. He must increase, but I must
decrease. We'll begin in verse 22. After
these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judea,
and there he tarried with them and baptized. Now, no scripture
is of any private interpretation. If we're going to understand
this verse, We have to read it in conjunction with verse one
of chapter four. When therefore the Lord knew
how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more
disciples than John, though Jesus himself baptized not, but his
disciples. Now we read these verses together,
we learn something that's very important that's taught in scripture.
And that is what's done by the servants of God, by the authority
of Christ, for the glory of Christ. It's the same as if it had been
done by Christ himself. Our Lord did not baptize anyone
personally, but it says here they were baptized by the Lord.
God's servants are ambassadors for Christ. And everything an
ambassador does, he does in the power of the king and by the
authority of the king. Not by his own power or his own
authority, but by the authority of the king. If you look over
2 Corinthians chapter 5, 2 Corinthians 5 verse 20. Now then, we are ambassadors
for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you
in Christ's dead, be ye reconciled to God. Now this is the commandment
of God, and God's ambassadors proclaim this commandment, be
ye reconciled to God. Call on God and beg God for mercy. Now, if you look over in Luke
chapter 10, I'll show you how important this is. How important
is it to hear God's ambassadors, to hear this commandment of God
that comes to us from his ambassadors. In Luke 10, verse 16, our Lord says, He that heareth
you, heareth me. And he that despiseth you, despises
me. And he that despises me, despises
him that sent me. If you despise the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ that you hear preached, you're not despising
that preacher. You're despising God and God's Son. That's what
our Lord said. That's how important this matter
is. And it is my prayer this morning
that God will grant us ears to hear his message this morning. Not to hear my voice and my words,
but to hear him, because he must increase, but I must decrease. Now, verse 23, and John also
is baptizing in Enon, near to Siloam, because there was much
water there, and they came and were baptized. Now, this is one
of the many verses in the New Testament that plainly teaches
us that the proper mode of baptism is immersion in water. The word
baptized itself means to dip or to immerse. Now, why was John
baptizing where there was much water? Well, because you need
much water if you're going to baptize someone correctly. The
water at least has to be deep enough to put someone completely
under the water. We saw that example of that a
few weeks ago, we looked at the baptism of our Lord. When John
the Baptist baptized our Lord, he immersed him completely under
the water. He came up out of the water. Now, you all know
this already, but I'm making an issue of this, about how baptism
is to be done, because it's important. Baptism is a confession of Christ. And you cannot confess the work
of Christ in salvation by sprinkling water in someone's face or dumping
a cup of water on them. That does not confess the work
of Christ in salvation. A person is baptized for this
reason. God's done a work of grace in
their heart. And anytime that happens, God gives life in the
heart of a sinner, that person will want to and they will need
to confess Christ publicly in believer's baptism. It is the
desire of a believer to obey our Lord's commandment to be
baptized. And the believer needs to, they
want to follow their heart's desire and confess the Lord publicly
in believer's baptism. It's our desire to confess publicly
the Lord Jesus Christ is all of my salvation. That salvation
is accomplished in the death, the burial, and the resurrection
of Christ. And that can only be confessed
by immersion under the water. You see, he must increase, but
I must decrease. When a person is baptized, what
are they claiming? That Christ is all of my salvation
without any contribution from me. The only thing I contributed
to this matter of salvation is my sin, which required the death,
burial, and resurrection of Christ. He must increase, but I must
decrease. Verse 24, for John was not yet
cast into prison. Now, John had not been in prison
yet. He hadn't been put to death yet,
so John's still preaching. John is a servant of God, and
as long as he is able, he will continue the ministry that God
gave him, no matter what it costs him. Because John knew this,
he must increase, and I must decrease. John the Baptist is
the forerunner of Christ. Well, Christ has come. John's
pointing him out. There he is, the Lamb of God,
who has taken away the sin of the world. Will John quit now
that Christ has come? Christ has come. Is John set
aside? Not yet. Not yet he's not. John's going to continue pointing
men to Christ. He did it once, didn't he? You
know how we are. Once is not enough. John continues
pointing men to Christ. Behold the Lamb. John probably
did not understand what was coming next in his ministry. He didn't
understand everything that was going on. He knew he was the
forerunner of Christ. And Christ is coming, but he
didn't understand what's coming next. So he just keeps doing
what the Lord put to his hand to do that day. And he didn't
worry about tomorrow. And you and I ought to do the
same thing. Whatever the Lord has given you to do today, do
it. Don't worry about tomorrow. Whatever
he's given you to do today, do it and do it faithfully because
he must increase, but I must decrease. Now there arose a question
between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purifying. Some of them were just their
traditions. We don't have any way of knowing what this debate
was about. But we assume it was a debate
about these purifying that were a tradition of the elders that
they taught as scripture. They weren't scripture. They're
just traditions of the elders. And probably these Jews thought
this ordinance of baptism that they saw John doing and our Lord
doing, they thought this was just another one of their ritual
purifications. But it's not. They were wrong.
Baptism is not a cleansing. Baptism is a confession. Baptism
doesn't cleanse us from sin. The blood of Christ cleanses
us from all sin. And baptism is the way we publicly
confess that Christ has saved me. He shed his blood to cleanse
my sin. When he died, I died in him. When he was buried, I was buried
in him. When he rose again, I arose in him because he's my representative
and all my salvation is the Lord Jesus Christ. But they got into
this doctrinal debate over the empty form and ceremony of religion
for this reason. The Jews never saw the person.
They never saw the person. All they had was the empty form
and ceremony. They never saw the person, the
salvation that baptism pictures. But if you ever see Christ, The
debate about baptism and what it means will be ended. If you
see Christ, you'll know. You'll know exactly that it's
a confession of Him. And these Jews come to John.
And they tell him, Jesus of Nazareth, that fellow you introduced to
the world, he's got a bigger crowd than you do now. He's baptizing
the same thing you're doing. He's baptizing too. He's baptizing
more people than you do. He's got a bigger crowd than
you. And you know what they're trying to do. They're trying
to make John jealous. They're trying to make him envious
and trying to divide John and the Lord Jesus. Now, this is
a favorite device of Satan to make one servant of the Lord
envious and jealous of another. You know, if we hear the Lord
blessing in an extraordinary way somewhere else, what should
our reaction be? Our reaction should be, that's
wonderful. Oh, I'm so thankful to hear that.
I'm so thankful. We should we should be just overjoyed
because our desire is to the glory of Christ and the good
of God's people wherever they are, not just here, but everywhere. And we'll do that. We'll have
that attitude. We won't fall prey to this trap
of jealousy if we remember this. He must increase, but I must
decrease. If you look over Numbers chapter
11, here's a very, very good example of this. In Numbers chapter
11, Moses is not going to fall into this trap of jealousy and
envy. In Numbers 11, verse 26. But there remained two of the
men in the camp. The name of the one was Eldad and the name
of the other Medad. And 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. And there ran a
young man, and told Moses, and said, Eldad and Medad do prophesy
in the camp. And Joshua the son of Nun, the
servant of Moses, one of his young men, answered, and said,
My lord Moses, forbid them. And Moses said unto him, Enviest
thou for my sake? would God that all the Lord's
people were And the Lord would put his spirit upon them. Moses
said, they're prophesying down the camp. That's wonderful. I
hope the Lord blesses them. I hope people go hear them and
hear of Christ. We're fellow laborers together.
Moses said, I'm not in a contest with these fellas. We're not
rivals. We're in the same ministry. Fellow
laborers together, pointing men to Christ. That's our job. And
we need to be so watchful about this matter of division. Now
we should be, we must be, divided from heretics who deny the scriptures
and who deny Christ. We must be divided from them
who sow discord among the brethren. We must be. But we must never
be divided from our brethren. Ever. I'll tell you how serious
this is, two brothers being divided. It's satanic. This is a tool
that Satan uses. This is satanic. There's no glory
in it. And this doesn't just apply to
preachers. It applies to every believer.
You know, you say, well, you see how easy it is for preachers
to fall into this. Well, you know, Todd and I were
done there. Lexi preached to a huge crowd. Well, we're envious.
No, we're not. We're so thankful. But that doesn't
just apply to preachers. It applies to everyone. We all
get jealous and envious, don't we? We see someone go, well,
I want to do that. Not them. I don't want to let
Joe Schmoe do it. I want to do that. I want to be in charge
of that. Be careful now, that envy and jealousy. This is Satan
trying to divide brethren. Our attitude should be the same
attitude as John's is here. He said, you boys are trying
to make me jealous. And what the news you're telling me is
the best news I could hear. I'm happy to hear it. Because
he must increase. And I must decrease. John's whole
goal in the ministry was not to get a following for himself,
was it? What was John's message? Behold the Lamb. Go to Him. Look to Him. You're telling me
he's got a big bearer crowd to me? Hallelujah. That's just exactly
what I want. That's the goal of my ministry. Now, in these next verses, I
want you to notice John's wisdom. And how he deals with this attempt
to divide believers and to divide John from his Lord. And the way
John does it is this, he turns the attention away from himself
and to the Lord. If you can do that, that will
always eliminate division if our attention is focused on Christ. If both you and me are looking
to Christ, it's impossible for us to be divided because our
attention is on the Lord himself. And John draws contrast between
himself and the Lord. Now you listen to his contrast
and you decide who should have the preeminence. First, John
says, I'm just a servant. He's the master and I can only
receive what he gives. John bows to the sovereign will
of God. I'm not going to be upset. I'm
not going to be jealous because this is God's will. Why would
I find fault with God's will? He answered in verse 27 and said
a man can receive nothing. except it be given him from heaven."
John says, I can only have the ministry God gives me. If he
gives me a large ministry, well, that's wonderful. And if he gives
me a small ministry, well, that's wonderful, too, because the results
of the ministry are not my responsibility. The responsibility of the servant
is just this, to be faithful in everything the master gives
him to do. We should be faithful. Whether
we think that they're large things or small things, whatever he
gives us, we should be faithful in everything he gives us. That's
the job of a servant. My only job is to preach the
gospel to those that the Lord sends my way. It's not my job
to be building crowds and all these things. The Lord will add
to his church as he will. I know who I know. I know whom
I believe. I have everything that I have
for this reason. God gave it to me. And what I
don't have, God didn't give it to me. It's His will, for no
other reason. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 4,
now who maketh thee to differ from another? And what do you
have you didn't receive? Well, then why do you glory as
if you hadn't received it? Why do you glory as if you earned
this or you produced it? You didn't. God gave it to you. We ought not glory. We ought
to be thankful for whatever it is God gave us. And no one can
understand the gospel. This is why it's not my job to
build crowds and things, because no one can understand the gospel
that we preach unless God gives them an understanding. Now, you
can rest assured of this. I will work hard at studying
and preparing and praying and seeking God's will, seeking his
blessing. But no matter how much energy
I spend. I can't make you understand the
gospel. Only God can. Now, I will work hard at it,
because I don't think God's going to bless sloth, but only God
can make you understand the gospel. No one can love what I'm saying
unless God gives you the love for it. I can't make you love
Him, but He can, so we'll keep proclaiming Him. In all things,
in our ministry, in our understanding, in our faith, He must increase,
but I must decrease. Secondly, John reminds them,
I'm not the Christ, but he is, and he's the one that sent me
to this work, no matter how many people come to it. Even God's
own son did not magnify himself to be the Savior, did he? The
Father appointed him to be the Savior. And my job, your job,
is to serve where God put us, and the Lord will take care of
the results, whether it's here or anywhere else where his words
preach. See what John says in verse 28? You yourself bear me
witness that I said, I'm not the Christ, but that I am sent
before him. John reminds him, I told you,
I'm just the forerunner. I'm not the main attraction.
I'm the forerunner. I'm just a voice. That's why
I told you. I never said anything different. I'm just a voice to
bear witness of the Christ. I'm a voice. He's the Son of
God. Who ought you to listen to? Who
should more people go to? Me and my voice must decrease. And Christ must increase so that
you hear and see Christ. And as a servant of God, my heart's
desire and prayer to God for everyone of you is that Christ
will increase to you so much that everything else and everyone
else decreases to insignificance, so that you are taken up with
the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm just a voice, but he's the
son. Third, John tells them, God's
church belongs to him, not me. He's the bridegroom. I'm just
his friend. Verse 29, he says, 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."
Now, this picture that John's painting, Christ is the bridegroom,
and his people, God's elect, are the bride. They're God's
elect from every generation, and they belong to the bridegroom. He says the bridegroom hath the
bride. She belongs to Him. She belongs
to Him because the Father gave them to the Son in the covenant
of grace. They belong to Him because Christ
came and redeemed them. He bought her with His own blood. And they belong to Him because
they're brought to Him by the Spirit. She belongs to Christ. He owns her. Now the friend of
the bridegroom, he doesn't own anything. He's the best man at
this wedding. And the best man It's not jealous. He's not envious. Of course all
the attention is going to go to the bridegroom. In our day,
all the attention goes to the bride. But, you know, you get
the picture here. The attention ought to go to the bridegroom
in this picture that John's painting. If the best man is truly a friend,
he loves that bridegroom. And he's going to be happy when
the bridegroom's happy. He's going to have joy when he
sees the bridegroom is glorified. He wants everyone to look at
the bridegroom, not him. The function of the best man
is just to help the groom so that everything goes smoothly
on that wedding day. So at the end of the day, this
is accomplished. The bridegroom has his bride.
That's his whole function. The function of the best man
is not to be seen. It's not to be heard. It's to
do everything he can to gain that bride for his friend. The best man just stands there
and holds the ring. You know what that ring is? That's the gospel of peace in
the Lord Jesus Christ. He just stands there and holds
the ring. And the best man rejoices when that bride and that groom
both say, I do, and two becomes one flesh. You can't get the
smile off the best man's face when they say, I do, and walk
up the aisle, one flesh. And that's the servant of Christ.
God's servants are occupied with Christ and with his glory. God's
servant is not trying to gain anything for himself. God's servant
is doing everything he can so that Christ will have his pride. God's servant is doing everything
he can so Christ gets all the glory in redeeming his people
and that God's elect are joined to Christ, that they become one
flesh. And I'm telling you, the happier
he is and the more glorified he is, the happier I am. I started
out as nobody from nowhere, and I'll end up nobody. But Christ
is all, and I desperately want you to know him. Now, you're
going to forget my name, but if you know the name of Christ,
you'll never forget him. He should have the bride. He
should be the one that you're looking at. He came and bought
her with His blood. He should have all the glory
because He redeemed her. He redeemed that bride. And God's
servant rejoices when the people that he preaches to look away
from him and look to Christ. That's when God's servant rejoices. Everybody, this is a big deal
in our day. Everybody wants to have a life of joy. Do you want
a life of joy? Do you want to have joy in your
life? Then be occupied with the Lord Jesus Christ. The more we
hear Christ, the more joy we have. The more we know of the
Lord Jesus Christ, the more joy we'll have. We will have more
joy the more he increases and the more we decrease. He must
increase. I must decrease. Fourth, John
says Christ and I are on the opposite ends of the spectrum.
He must increase. But I must decrease. This is
the foundation of John's last recorded message. He must increase. Because this is the will and
purpose of the Father. That Christ have all preeminence. This is God's will. That Christ
have a name which is above every name. Now, Pink says this word
decrease means to be less and less occupied with ourselves,
and I think that's a good definition. The more I'm occupied with Christ,
the less I'll be occupied with me and my selfish desires. An increase in faith comes from
Christ increasing in our estimation and us decreasing in our estimation. The more highly that I think
of Christ, the more lowly I'll think of myself. Well, that's
going to do nothing but make me trust him more. The more I
think of him, the less I think of myself, the more completely
and fully I'll trust in Christ. That's an increase in faith.
Humility is a byproduct of Christ increasing and me decreasing.
If I have genuine faith and love for Christ, humility is the natural
byproduct. The more I try to be humble,
the less humble I'll be. If I'm trying to be humble, you
know what I'm going to end up doing? Look at my humility. Fail. But the more I'm taken up with
Christ, the more he increases in my estimation, the less I'll
be taken up with myself and just naturally, the more humble I'll
be. The more I'm taken up with him
who's meek and lonely in heart, the more humble I'll be. The
master must always increase. and the servant must always decrease
in glory." I must decrease in the ministry. My ministry is
temporary. Christ is eternal. Henry used
this illustration. He said, everybody knows Charles
Spurgeon. Every person here has heard the name Charles Spurgeon.
Christ seen his picture. Does anyone here know who was
preaching the morning Charles Spurgeon was converted? Nobody
does. And you know what? It doesn't
matter. It does not matter. All that
matters is that we hear Christ and know Christ. Who pointed
us to Christ is of absolutely no significance. The only thing
that matters is that you see the Lord Jesus Christ. Growing
in grace is not growing bigger and bigger and bigger. Growing
in grace is not growing more and more and more important.
Growing in grace is not knowing more and more and more and more
than somebody else. Growing in grace is growing smaller
and smaller and smaller and smaller. And this is not optional. He
must increase and I must decrease. It's not optional. Like I said
when we read there in 1 Corinthians 15, open the surface, there's
not very many things you can say the Lord must do. Here's
one of them. He must increase. It is an impossibility to think
too highly of God and too lowly of yourself. I was accused of
that one time. I was told you think too much
of God and too little of yourself. That's not true. It's impossible. Christ is superior to me in every
way. He must increase, but I must
decrease. Fifth, the fifth contrast John
uses, he said, I come from this earth. Christ came from heaven. Look at verse 31. 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. Now, God's servants can only
speak in a limited, earthly way. We just have human words. Christ
has heavenly words of life. His word is life. And I know
so little. I know so little. And what knowledge
I have is just in part. But Christ knows all things because
he is all things. I'm nothing. I mean, I'm nothing
but a heap of dust standing here. But Christ is above all. He is
all. So, of course, he must increase,
but I must decrease. Verse 32, John says, And what
he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth. And no man receiveth
his testimony. Now, this is clear evidence of
man's total depravity. Man will believe absolutely anything
but the pure truth of God spoken by the Son of God. Our testimony,
all we can testify is what we've seen and heard. The testimony
that our Lord bore was perfect. But almost all men rejected it. My preaching, my testimony is
very limited because I hadn't seen much and I hadn't heard
much. It's limited. by this flesh. I'm nearsighted
and I'm hard of hearing, so my testimony at best will be in
part. Our Lord sees all. He's heard all. His testimony
is pure and perfect. And thank God, when John says
no man, he says here no man receives his testimony, he doesn't literally
mean no man. He would literally mean no man
would receive God's testimony apart from God's grace. But what
he means here is relatively few. Few people compared to the crowds
that flock to false religion, few people believe the gospel. But now somebody is going to
believe God. Somebody by God's grace is going
to believe and receive the Lord Jesus Christ. See what John says
in verse 33. He that has received his testimony
has set to his seal that God's true. I said to his seal means
to certify or ratify to say, I put my stamp of approval on
that. Yes, that's true. Not that my stamp of approval
matters or hill beans, but I put my seal of approval. Christ is
true. True faith always believes God. Always faith believes what God
says about who God is. God's sovereign. That's what
God's word says, I believe it. God's sovereign, that means he
can damn me or he can save me and he'll be right either way
because he's God. I believe that because that's
what God's word says. Faith believes what God says
man is. Man's totally depraved, incapable
of pleasing God. I believe that because that's
what God says. I can't not believe it. I must believe it. Faith
believes Who Christ is. That Christ came to this world
to save sinners. I believe that. Because that's
what God's Word says. Faith always believes God. And anyone who believes God must
decrease in their own eyes. If we're going to set to our
seal that God's true, we have to say God's right. What does
God say? God says we're sinful. Totally
depraved. incapable of doing anything good. If I'm going to believe that,
I must decrease in my own eyes. God says we're unclean through
and through. Not just we've done a few bad
things. We're unclean through and through. There's nothing
in us but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores from the
top of our head to the sole of our foot. You can't put your
finger on one healthy spot. Now, if I don't believe God,
I'm going to have to come down, decrease in my own estimation
of myself. God says everything we do is
sin. The best thing we do is filthy
rags. Now, faith believes that. And
if I'm going to believe that, if I'm going to set to my seal
that that's true, I'm going to have to decrease. And true faith
believes. that the Lord Jesus Christ is
the Savior of sinners. Now, if I'm going to have faith
in Christ, brethren, he must increase. He must. If I'm going
to be saved, Christ is going to have to do all the saving.
He must increase so that he is my all and in all. Not increase
because he's about number one. Not to increase because he is
number one on the chart. He must increase till he's all
the chart. He's all and in all. True faith glorifies God. And if you look over in 1 John
chapter 5, I'll show you something. True faith glorifies God. Unbelief dishonors God. Unbelief is not just saying,
well, I don't really believe that. Unbelief calls God a liar. I'll show you that, 1 John 5,
verse 10. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness
in himself. He that believeth not God hath
made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave
of his Son. And this is the record that God
hath given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Now,
if I say I can have that life some other way, I'm saying God's
a liar. I mean, that's how serious this
matter of unbelief is. Now, back in our text, John 3,
look at verse 34. For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words
of God. For God giveth not the Spirit
by measure unto him. Here's the sixth contrast between
the servant and the master. Now, we have the Spirit of God. Every believer here has the Spirit
of God. If you didn't, you wouldn't know
Christ. But it's only in a measure in it. It's just a little bit.
Christ has the spirit without measure. After the baptism of
our Lord, he came up out of the water, the spirit in the form
of a dove descended and it abode on the Lord Jesus Christ. And
he didn't come and go. He abode. He had the spirit without
measure. We have the spirit in a very
small measure. So we only know little bits and
pieces of the truth. There's a lot of this book I
can't explain. I read it and I believe it. I
don't know that I understand it. Why is that? We have the Spirit in a very
small measure. And we know in little bits and pieces. God reveals
to us everything we need to know about salvation. He reveals to
us everything we need to know about Christ. But what we understand
is just in little bits and pieces. Christ not only knows all the
truth, Christ is all the truth. He is the truth of God. Of course He must increase, but
I must decrease. And seventh, the last contrast
John draws here between himself and the Master. He said, I can
receive nothing unless He gives it. But Christ has been given
all things. Verse 35, the Father loveth the
Son and hath given all things into His hand. Now all things,
what does that mean? What does it mean, all things
have been given to Christ? It means exactly what it says.
All things, everything, everything that pertains to this creation
has been given to Christ. Everything that pertains to life,
physical life and spiritual life, it's all been given to Christ.
Everything that pertains to eternity, new heavens and the new earth,
it's all been given to Christ. And if I left anything out, that
too. It's all been given. to the Son. I've just been given what God
gives me. Christ has received it all. He's
received everything. The Father loves the Son. All of God's love is in His Son. He's given everything to His
Son, and that includes all of His love. Now, if God's going
to love you and me, He must love us in Christ. There's no love
left over for sinners. outside Christ, because all of
the father's love is in the sun and the father's going to love
us. He's been loves in the sun. The father's going to give us
anything. He's going to give it to us in his son, because
he's given all things to his son. He's given all of his love
to the sun. So, verse 36, John says, He that
believeth on the sun hath everlasting life. He that believeth not the
sun shall not see life. But the wrath of God abideth
on him. Now all things are in Christ. And if you believe Christ, then
all things are yours through union with Christ. When husband
and wife become married, they become one flesh. Jane, I got
married. I didn't have nothing, but everything
I had was hers. And what little bit we've accumulated
in the past years, whatever we got, it's hers. Because we're
one flesh. God's given everything to his
son. And if you're in his son, you
have all things. Everything. And those who do
not believe Christ, they can't have anything. Ain't nothing.
Because they're not joined to Christ. They don't have union
with Christ, and he's got everything. So if you don't know him, you're
not in him, you can't have anything. Now, I want you to notice how
this verse reads. I think this will be a blessing to you. He
that believeth on the Son hath eternal life, present tense.
He that believeth not the Son shall not see life, future tense. To those who believe, hath is
in the present tense. If you believe Christ right now,
at this moment, you have eternal life. But to those who do not
believe, the shall not is in the future tense. Now why is
that? When John says, he that believeth
on the Son hath everlasting life, that's present tense. He's telling
us this. Wherever faith is found, life's
already present. Life's already in you. You don't
believe on Christ, so you can be born again. The only reason
you believe Christ is because God's made you already be born
again. So you believe God. And John
says, he that believeth not the Son shall not see life in the
future. It's not saying you never will.
You can't now and you never will. Not saying that he said you shall
not see life. And he says it that way because
every time a sinner goes to hell, it's that sinner's fault. It's
never God's fault. He can't blame God. So God didn't
choose me. God didn't call me. God didn't send me the gospel.
I never knew God existed. It's not God's fault. It's that
sinner's fault for refusing to believe and bow to the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's God's doing if a sinner
ever awakes in glory. If we awake in the likeness of
the Lord Jesus Christ, that's God's doing. We have nothing
to do with it. It's all His doing. And that
truth shuts a sinner up to God's sovereign grace. Unless God the
Holy Spirit gives you life, you will not and you cannot believe
God. You will not come to Him that
you might have life unless God gives you life, unless God is
merciful to you. Now that shuts a sinner up to
God's sovereign mercy. Now what are you supposed to
do with that? That's the message, that John's last message. Every
sinner here is completely shut up, completely dependent upon
God's sovereign mercy. Well, what are you supposed to
do with that message? Believe Christ. That's the list. Believe Christ. Salvation is
knowing a person. Look to him. Behold the Lamb
of God. Beg God to reveal his Son to
your heart. That he might increase. He must
increase. He must! The Lord make him increase
to me. And I must decrease. Then Lord
give me the grace to decrease.