And good morning. I can't help
but think of a song that a man wrote many years ago, and then
Brother Joseph Terrell had added some words to it, and part of
it says, "'Tis not that I did choose thee, for, Lord, that
could not be. This heart would still refuse thee, hadst thou
not chosen me." And that's true. That's true for me, and if you
believe on Christ, I know it's true for you, too. I invite your attention
this morning to the Gospel of John, chapter 3. And your brethren in Kingsport,
brother Gabe and the brethren there, send their love and greetings.
John chapter 3. Look here with me beginning in
verse 22. John 3 verse 22. After these things came Jesus
and his disciples into the land of Judea, and there he tarried
with them and baptized. And John also was baptizing in
Anan near to Salem, because there was much water there. And they
came and were baptized, for John was not yet cast into prison.
Then there arose a question between some of John's disciples and
the Jews about purifying. And they came unto John and said
unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom
thou bearest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all come
to him. This is an account of John the
Baptist. I looked into John's name to
see what it means. I never saw this before. John
means Jehovah is a gracious giver. You know I love that. Jehovah
graciously gave himself for John the Baptist. And I think most
of us probably know this, but John the Baptist was the earthly
cousin of our Lord Jesus Christ. He was born a few months before
him. And if you didn't know this too, John's mother, Elizabeth,
she was barren. She was old in age. She was past the age of
childbearing. And then the angel Gabriel came
and told her, you're going to have a son. His name's going
to be John. And he shall be great in the
sight of the Lord. Many shall he turn to the Lord
their God. I love reading this about John
the Baptist. We're told that when Mary came
to Elizabeth, John's mother, And John was in her womb. She
told Elizabeth the salutation that the angel had told her about
how the son of the highest, the son of the most high God, was
going to come forth from her womb. And I love this. It tells
us that John the Baptist, as a babe in her womb, leapt. Leapt
for joy at that announcement. Scriptures tell us that John
was filled with the Holy Ghost from the womb. I can't explain
that, but it blesses my soul to read about this. Now, John
was greatly used of God. John the Baptist was a faithful
witness. He was a faithful prophet, a
faithful preacher of the gospel, of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
as is often the case with God's ministers, John had a following.
He had some disciples, and that's all that means is a follower,
okay? Now, here in our text, These disciples of John, they
heard that men were going to the Lord and going to His disciples
to be baptized of them. And John's disciples were upset.
John's disciples didn't understand that. They couldn't understand
why somebody would go to someone other than John the Baptist to
be baptized. They thought all men should come
to Him. And reading John's response, which is the next and the last
10 verses of this chapter, bless my heart so much, this was, in
a way, his rebuke to them, because what they found fault with was
there was no fault at all. And I hope this will be an encouragement
to you as it has been to me, all right? John's response to
them, I've titled this John the Baptist Testimony, all right?
John the Baptist testimony, look at verse 27 with me. John answered
and said, a man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven. What a response. You know, his
disciples, his followers were all torn up. Why aren't they
coming to you? This is terrible. John was not
upset in the least. You know, if you're anything
like me, you struggle with jealousy sometimes. There was no jealousy
here for our brother John. In fact, I'm sure when they told
him this, he was most glad. John's desire was for men to
come to Christ. That was the whole point of his
message, was to believe on Christ. We read it here in the last verse.
Come to Christ. He couldn't have cared less if
men came to him. Two, like all true faithful pastors, preachers
of the gospel, if someone comes to us wanting to confess Christ
and be baptized, identifying with Him, confessing what He
has done for them, we would rejoice. But you understand what I'm saying?
You understand what John's saying? It wasn't about him. It wasn't
about His ministry. What did it tell us right here?
A man can receive nothing. My sinner Martin says, take unto
himself. A man can take unto himself nothing, including our
ministry. It must be given unto us from
heaven. It's God's ministry. The ministry
here, the ministry in Kingsport, the ministry in Crossville, and
all the places where God has a ministry, we have received
this ministry. It's His. It's His. You know,
I don't really like the term winning souls and converting.
God calls His people. God is faithful in calling His
people unto Himself. And He uses His ministry, His
messengers, and His message, His word, to do it. Verse 28,
Ye yourselves bear me witness that I said, I am not the Christ,
but that I am sent before Him. John was going to make sure that
these men knew He is, we're not in competition. We're not rivals. Again, for lack of a better phrase,
we're on the same team. We're on the same side. Alright?
Now, you may hope, that's just a page over, but in John 1, we're
going to go back and forth between John 3 and John 1 a bit. Okay? Look here in John chapter 1 verse
6. I'd love to read the whole chapter, but it's a long chapter.
Just going to read a few verses here and there. John 1 verse
6. says, there was a man sent from
God whose name was John. The same came for a witness to
bear witness of the light that all through him might believe.
He was not that light. He was sent to bear witness of
that light. John was sent of God. He did not send himself. He was
sent of God for this reason, to bear witness of Christ the
light. That's it. That's it. Look right
here at verse 15. John bare witness of Him, and
cried, saying, This was He of whom I spake. He that cometh
after me is preferred before me, for He was before me. And
of His fullness have all we received, and grace for grace, for the
law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. John was sent with a message.
It was to bare witness of Christ the Light, He said, don't look
to the law. You look to the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's full of grace and truth. Look to Him. He declared Christ. Look down here at verse 29. The next day John seeth Jesus
coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh
away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said, After
me cometh a man which is preferred before me, for he was before
me." Do you see how John very simply pointed men and women
to Christ? Pointed them away from themselves,
away from himself. He didn't want people to Put
their trust in Him? No. But in Christ, in the Lord
Jesus Christ alone. John said right here in verse
23, he said, I'm the voice of one crying in the wilderness.
That's it. I'm nothing. I love the quote
from our dear brother Scott Richardson. You wonder what a preacher is
and we tend to glory in preachers and put them on pedestals. A
preacher is a nobody. who tells everybody about somebody,
capital S, who can save anybody. I love that quote so much. Oh,
I pray none of us ever forget that. We're just men. The best
of men are men at best. Every man in his best state is
altogether vanity, empty. That's what it means. Look back
in our text, John 3, verse 28 again. John said, ye yourselves bear
me witness that I said I am not the Christ but that I am sent
before him. This verse blesses my heart so
much. Verse 29. He that hath the bride
is the bridegroom. But the friend of the bridegroom,
which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of
the bridegroom's voice. This my joy therefore is fulfilled. Now, in this illustration, that
John gave. Very simple illustration. Christ
is the bridegroom. John is the friend of the bridegroom. Let me tell you about the bridegroom.
Look how that verse is worded. Verse 29. He that hath the bride. For years I wondered if I would
ever have a bride. I did some seeking of a bride. There was a time when it could
be said, I did not have my bride. Even after we were engaged, something
could have happened and I could have not had my bride. When people
say things like, Well, I saw it yesterday. I drove down to
the Brass Band Festival for a little bit. And these people were standing
out on the corner of Main Street and I forget the other road.
And they had signs, God loves you, Jesus died for you. He loves
his bride. The Father chose a bride for
his son called the Lamb's Wife. Christ came to redeem his bride. Christ died for His bride. I
have had the blessed privilege of conducting two wedding ceremonies. And the beauty I see in that
is you turn to Ephesians 5, or you look in Genesis when God
gave Adam and Eve. When you think about marriage,
think about Christ and His bride. You think about how He loves
her. It's kind of like Hosea and Gomorrah.
How could He love her? That God should love a soul like
me? Oh, how can it be? Here's how. In Christ. For Christ's sake. It's all about
the bridegroom. And He hath the bride. He has
always had her. He has her now. And He's going
to have her forever. He has loved her forever with
an everlasting love. Nothing shall be able to separate
her from His love. In tenderness, He sought her.
He bought her. He went to prepare a place for
her. He joined her unto Himself forever. They're one. You know,
when we enter into marriage, how often does it not last? I'm not here to cast judgment
on any of us, but for the grace of God, I'd be in... When man makes a promise, at
the end of the day, it may or may not mean anything. But when
God makes a promise, the Lord is faithful who promised. He
doesn't break a promise. You know, marriage is so serious.
And I told the people that I'm married, I said, listen, If you
view divorce as an option, don't even do it. I don't want to marry
you if you even think, well, if it doesn't work. Because there
is no divorce between Christ and His bride. It's impossible. Well, what if I'm just not a
good enough husband? That happens. What if I'm just
not a good enough wife? That happens. But thank God this
marriage doesn't hinge on the bride. It doesn't hinge on us.
It all hinges on Him. And it can never be broken. Here's
who John the Baptist declared, he that hath the bride. He that
hath the bride. And I can't help but think, from
John's perspective, I can't help but think of a best man. I've
never been a best man. Maybe some of you have had the
honor. But I thought about this. A best man, one, that's someone
whom the bridegroom loves. I had a best man. That's someone
who is near and dear to the bridegroom's heart. And here's what the best
man gets to do. He gets to stand there beside
the bridegroom. and hear Him proclaim His love
for His bride. That's how John referred to himself. I get to stand here and hear
Christ proclaim His love for His bride. Do you promise to
have and hold? Do you promise all your earthly
goods? Do you promise to love her as
long as you both shall live, in sickness and health, in poverty
and in wealth? I do. I'm not telling you you
need to do something to earn the love of the bridegroom. No.
I'm telling you He has the bride. The bridegroom hath the bride.
And I pray God would be pleased to reveal to you and to me that
we're the bride. He's not waiting on us. He's not hoping. He's not putting
the ball in our court. He's not... Proposed, if you
will, waiting for us to accept. No, He hath the bride. He hath
the bride. And John said this, he said,
my joy is fulfilled in getting to hear His voice. Have you heard
His voice? Have you heard Him proclaim His
love to you, child of God? If we do, if He reveals to us
we're the bride, every time we hear His voice, we're not going
to be able to help but rejoicing. Just like John. Look here, verse
13. He went on to say, He must increase,
but I must decrease. You know, it seems obvious in
this account that John's disciples wanted John to increase. They
wanted John to be the one to get to baptize them. They wanted
John to get the credit. They wanted John to get the glory.
They wanted John to have some sort of role in this. I'm okay
with not having any role in this. I would have it no other way
than for Christ the bridegroom to have all the glory. He must have all the glory. It's
not unto us, it's unto Him. He will not give His glory to
another. It all belongs to Him. The prayer of John's heart, the
sincere desire of his heart and soul was for the Lord Jesus Christ,
His Lord, to increase. He just wanted Christ to increase.
When we come here, you know, I hear it said that in false
churches, I was privileged to grow up here. This is the only
message I ever heard, even though I didn't like it for a time.
I never had to sit under a false message, but I hear that it's
all about coming in here and, well, I got up and cleaned up
and got ready and went to church. It's all about feeling good and
leaving here feeling good about ourselves and going about our
day. You know, we think Monday is the first day of the week.
Today is the first day of the week. We're starting our week worshiping
God. We should get some credit for that, right? Absolutely not.
He must increase. This is all about Him. We're
not put on a show. We're not here to play games
or put on a charade. This is about Christ. This is about exalting
the Savior. I love what Rex always says.
Come brag on Christ. That's what we're doing. We must
decrease. Decrease. We like to be wise in our own
eyes. We like to seek the praise of men. Do you not like being
complimented? Do you not love when someone
pats you on the back and says, good job? I always have. He must
increase. I must decrease. He alone is
worthy. You read how the Apostle Paul spoke of himself after conversion.
My soul. He said, I'm nothing. Nothing. Less than the least of all saints. No wretched man that I am. I
need to be delivered. It's all about Christ. All he
wanted was for people to know Christ. We read it. He said,
Behold the Lamb of God. Quit looking at me. Behold Him
who taketh away the sin of the world, the world of His elect,
His people. You know, John didn't even want people to know his
name. A voice. The voice of one crying in the
wilderness. I'm on sermon audio. John isn't. It's not about us. It's all about
Christ. Turn with me to Matthew chapter
11. Paul said, I've become a fool
in glory. And God gave him thorn in the
flesh. He made glory in Christ. In His sufficient grace. Here
in Matthew 11, look at verse 11 with me. This is the Lord speaking. Matthew
11.11, Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women
there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist. Notwithstanding,
he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. There is not a greater than John
the Baptist. But he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater
than he. Well, how do you explain that? I'm a poor sinner and nothing
at all. Same for you too. Jesus Christ, He's our all in
all. We're nothing. We're the body. He's the head. He's the preeminent
one. He gets all the glory. We glory in Him. You know, people
like to talk about getting their crowns. We're going to cast our
crowns at His feet. If we're going to be with Him,
if we're going to be accepted in Him, stand before His presence
in all eternity, that's exactly where we're going to be is at
His feet. And we're going to be delighted to stay there forever,
singing His praise, glorying Him and Him alone. Back in our
text, John 3 verse 31. He must increase, I must decrease.
He must be exalted, I must be abased. Let's glory in Him alone. He that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord. John 3.31 says, 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. He's above all. Job put it this way. He said,
God is greater than man. What a statement. What a statement. God is infinitely greater than
man, isn't He? Absolutely He is. We're of the earth. We're
earthly. Thus we are, to thus we shall
return. Not Christ. You remember how
long He stayed in the grave? Wasn't long. The grave could
not hold Him. It had no power over Him. You and me, we have a problem. We are carnal. Fleshly. We're sold under sin. Paul said, to will is present
with me. He said, but how to perform that which is good? I
find not. We want to. God's given us the
will. He said, sin shall not have dominion
over us. Let me tell you about Christ.
He's holy. He's holy. Hymn number 70. Holy, holy, holy. It's always
been one of my favorite songs as long as I can remember. Even
as a kid, I loved that song. But especially once I came to
rejoice in the words. He's the most high God. He's
separate from sinners. He's not like us. Ultimately,
here's the problem. By nature, we think the Lord
Jesus Christ is just like us. Thou thoughtest I was altogether
such and one as thyself. But He's not. We are sinners. God's Word declares us to be
fallen, helpless, ruined sinners. And it tells us Christ is separate
from sinners. Our sins have separated between
us and our God. We're not similar. We don't have
anything in common. We can't bridge the gap. We can't fix our problem. We
can't get to God. You remember the Tower of Babel? They tried to just climb on up
to heaven. We can't. We can't do it. Here in John
3, in verse 14, it talks about Christ being lifted up. As Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the
Son of Man be lifted up. That's what it says right before
God so loved the world. And whosoever believeth on Him
shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Listen. He came from above. He's above
all. He came down to be lifted up. And in being lifted up, He came
down. As Christ was lifted up on the cross, He was coming down
in love. In love for His bride. In love
for those He came to save. He condescended. You just read
it. He endured such contradiction
of sinners against himself. He who is holy. In Philippians
2, we read that glorious account about how he humbled himself.
He whom God had highly exalted, giving him a name above every
name. He humbled himself. We want to be exalted, don't
we? I want to leave here thinking,
man, that was a good message, wasn't it? God forbid. He humbled himself and became
obedient unto death. Even the death of the cross,
He came down. That was John's testimony, that
He reached down His hand for me. Let's remember that pit from
whence we've been digged. Oh, my soul. We have no idea
just how far He reached down for us. You imagine the Son of
God the spotless Lamb of God who knew no guile, who knew no
sin, pure, perfect, righteous, righteousness Himself, the Light,
the Life, the Life. That's what we read in John 1.
The Life, the Light. In Him is no darkness at all,
and yet He hung on a cross to save those who are nothing but
darkness, who are nothing but death. We read right here, I
think in verse Maybe 17 to 19 talking about lightness has come
into the world and men love darkness rather than light because we're
evil. This isn't about us. That's John's
message. It's not about me. It's all about
Christ who loved me and gave himself for me. He came down. Oh, He came down. So let that
remind us who and where He is. He's exalted and lifted up. He's
seated on His throne. Heaven's His throne. This earth
is just His footstool. The heavens aren't even clean
in His sight. He's above all. He's above all. Look here, verse
32. And what He hath seen and heard,
that He testifieth. And no man receiveth His testimony. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
faithful and true witness. He is. I hope that by God's grace
I can be a faithful and true witness, but He is the faithful
and true witness. And He said this, I believe He
said it to Pilate. He said, For this cause came
I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth.
And that's Him. He is the truth. Now, although
He is the faithful witness, although He is truth itself, Himself,
what did we just read? No man receiveth his testimony. Does that not strike you? We hear the truth himself. I
won't believe that. Look right here in John 3 verse
7. He was talking to Nicodemus about
being born again. You must be born again or you're
not going to enter into the kingdom of heaven. John 3 verse 7, Marvel
not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again. The wind
bloweth where it listeth, that's the Spirit, and thou hearest
the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and
whither it goeth. So is every one that is born
of the Spirit. Nicodemus answered in verse 9, said unto him, How
can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto
him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and
testify that we have seen, and ye receive not our witness." Now, why? Everybody claims to
believe God. Everybody claims to know God,
love God, love Jesus, follow Him. We're told in 1 Corinthians
2 verse 14, The natural man discerneth not the things of the Spirit
of God. Neither can he know them. They are foolishness unto us. God must reveal these things
unto us by His Spirit. God must birth us again. We must be born of the Spirit.
Born of the Spirit of God. In John 1, we read that Christ
came unto His own, and His own received Him not. We read in Isaiah 53, prophesying
of Christ's coming. We read that He is despised and
rejected of men. No exceptions. We all despise
and reject Him by nature. Here in our text, verse 32, And
what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth, and no man
receiveth his testimony. But look at the very next verse.
He that hath received his testimony hath said to his seal that God
is true. No man receiveth his testimony, he that receiveth
his testimony. Make sure you're paying attention.
That don't make sense, does it? That don't make sense. There are some
who receive God's testimony. I mentioned Isaiah 53. It starts
like this. Who hath believed his report? To whom hath the
arm of the Lord been revealed? Those who believe his report.
Those who hear and believe God's testimony. are those to whom
the arm of the Lord has been revealed, Christ. The Lord Jesus
Christ. If Christ has been revealed to
us, though by nature and though on our own and according to our
will, we could not receive His testimony by God's grace, by
God-given faith in Christ, we receive His testimony. Those upon whom the Spirit moves. Believe. Now, remember what John
already told us. He said, a man can receive nothing,
except to be given him from heaven. Faith is the gift of God, not
of yourselves, lest any man should boast. God's gift. Now, if God
has given us faith, here's what we can do. We can set to our
seal that God is true. We know whom we have believed,
don't we? And we know we didn't wake up one day and decide to
believe it. I didn't just come here one day and decide, I'm
going to love Christ. I'm going to dedicate my life
to Christ. God would call me a fool. You read God's Word.
That's not how it works. All our lifetime we were subject
to bondage. Sitting here, hearing the gospel
preached. Nah, I can do without that. And then next thing you
know, I've got to go hear about the Savior again. I gotta go
hear about Him who's washed me from my sin, cleansed me with
His blood. He who's my all in all. I teach
the Sunday school class for the middle and high schoolers at
the church in Kingsport. I just lost five to graduation. I taught them last week, Ecclesiastes
12 verse 1, Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth,
while the evil days draw not. When the years come, you say,
I have no pleasure in that. You know, you graduate and we
want to get out on our own. When I grew up here, graduated
from Boyle County High School, everybody I knew wanted to get
out of Dodge. They wanted to get out of Danville, Kentucky.
I had no desire to leave here because the gospel was here.
Now, I moved to Kingsport because I felt led to. I felt led to
be there with my wife and have a family there. God forbid we
just move away from the gospel. Is He not your daily bread? Is
He not your life and sustenance? In Him, do you not live, move,
and have your being? Well, a job's more important. I moved to Kingsport
making... I didn't have a job, but when I got a job, I made
11 bucks an hour. Supported a wife on 11 dollars
an hour. You think... I'll tell you why. Because God
has caused me to trust the Lord shall provide. Who cares if you
make 11, 12 bucks an hour? You remember the manna? that
He provided in the wilderness? Is God able to supply all our
need through the Lord Jesus Christ, or is He not? I can say to my seal, God is
true. He's faithful. He's faithful. We can trust Him. Believe God's testimony. I pray
He'll cause us to. Look here, verse 34. For he whom
God hath sent, Speaketh the words of God. Now let me say this,
John obviously was sent of God. We read it in John chapter 1.
A man sent of God named John. All those who declare the gospel,
we must be sent of God. But Christ is the one who was
sent of God. God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under
the law to redeem them that were under the law. Now every time
Christ spoke, He spoke the words of God. He is the Word of God.
We're told that in John 1. In the beginning was the Word.
The Word was with God. The Word was God. The same was in the
beginning with God. When we stand and open God's
Word and speak, may we speak as the oracles of God declaring
His Word. Anything I have to say of my
own accord matters not. We must hear Him. We must hear
His words. We must hear His voice and His
alone. Verse 34, for he whom God has
sent speaketh the words of God, for God giveth not the Spirit
by measure unto him. I love this quote I found, Matthew
Henry. He said, the Spirit was not in Christ as in a vessel.
You know, you and I are vessels. But as in a fountain, as in a
bottomless ocean. I love that. All the fullness
of God, we're told in Colossians, dwells in Him and we are complete
in Him. In Christ, we're complete. He's
not left anything for us to complete. You know, someone might start
something and then you come and flip a switch or something to
finish it. You say, oh, I did that. Salvation's of the Lord
from start to finish. You read this too. He's the author
of our faith and He's the finisher of our faith. It's all of Him
and He's the object of our faith. Here, verse 35. The Father loveth
the Son. If we hear nothing else, may
we truly hear this. God the Father loveth God the
Son. Turn with me to Matthew chapter
3. The Father loveth the Son. This right here might be my favorite
account with John the Baptist. Matthew 3. Verse 13. Matthew 3.13, Then cometh Jesus
from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. But John
forbade him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest
thou to me? And Jesus answering, said unto
him, Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill
all righteousness. Then he suffered him. Now look
what happened right after this. And Jesus, when he was baptized,
went up straightway out of the water. And, lo, the heavens were
opened unto him. And he saw the Spirit of God
descending like a dove and lighting upon him. And, lo, a voice from
heaven saying, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Now, it'll never cease to amaze
me that our Lord had one of His people baptize Him. To me, you
know, when we're baptized, we're identifying with Christ saying,
I believe with all my heart that Christ came to save me. I know it's not because of anything
in me, but it's all for His great namesake, for His glory. And
then Christ came and was baptized. You know what I see in that?
I see Him identifying with His people. And what other response could
John the Baptist possibly have? Whoa, whoa, I need to be baptized
with you. You know, kind of like when Peter
in, I think, John 13, when our Lord was washing his disciples'
feet, and Peter said, no, no, no, no, no. The Lord said, Peter, if I don't
wash you, you can have nothing to do with me, no part with me.
He said, you wash me all over. You've washed me from head to
toe. Oh, we must be washed in Him. The Father loveth the Son. That's
exactly what the Father said when the Lord took Peter, James,
and John upon the Mount of Transfiguration. And again, Peter, it's good for
us to be here, but let's build three tabernacles. The Father
spoke and He said, This is My beloved Son in whom I am well
pleased. Hear ye Him. Hear Him. Don't glory in each
other, Peter. Glory in Him. Glory in Him and
Him alone. Here in our text, John 3 verse
35 again. The Father loveth the Son and
hath given all things into His hand. I love that too. He hath given all things into
His hand. You know, people think of the
Lord Jesus as being less than God. He's equal with God. He
thought it not robbery to be equal with God. He is God. Yes,
the Scriptures refer to Him as the Son of God. But He's God
the Son, the Three-in-One, the Thrice-Holy God. He's no less
God than the Father. Told you in Him dwells all the
fullness of God. Listen, John 17.2, Thou hast given Him, the
Lord Jesus Christ, power over all flesh, that He should give
eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him. John 5.22, The
Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the
Son. We must all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ. All judgment, all power. Colossians
1.17 says, He's before all things. And by Him all things consist. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
sovereign God. He's our sovereign God. Now, here's the conclusion
of what John had to say to his followers. Verse 36. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. And he that believeth not the
Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. Do we believe on the Son of God? This is the critical issue. This
is the only thing that matters. Don't matter how much we make.
Don't matter. The poor man who has Christ is
the happiest man on the face of this earth. Because he's the
wealthiest man on the face of this earth. That's what I tried
to teach the kids last week. All that matters is do we have
Christ? Do we know the Son? Do we believe on Him? Turn with
me and I'll close. Turn to 1 John 5. 1 John 5. 1
John 5, verse 9. 1 John 5 verse 9 says, If we receive
the witness of men, the witness of God is greater. For this is
the witness of God which He hath testified of His Son. 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 to us eternal life. And this life is in His
Son. Now let me tell you, That's what
this book declares. Life in the Son. Life in the Son. Look right here,
verse 12. He that hath the Son hath life,
and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto
you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may
know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the
name of the Son of God." I don't know anything else in this life
that is of any significance than that right there. That's it.
He that hath a son, he that believeth on the Son, that's all that matters.
Nothing else matters. 401k is tanking? Oh well. The
Lord will provide. John the Baptist, his disciples
came to him troubled. I don't know how they responded
to this. Just because it says they were his disciples, it doesn't
necessarily mean they were believers because in John 6, there were
some men referred to as the Lord's disciples, followers, but it
says they went back and walked no more with him. They were interested
in making Him king, interested in having Him feed their bellies.
So I don't know if these were believers or not, but I pray
so. I love to picture them just laughing
at their silliness after John's glorious response. You see, John
the Baptist had one purpose in life. And it wasn't to baptize. It was to declare the Lord Jesus
Christ. It was to bear witness of Him.
It was to preach the baptism of repentance for the remission
of sins. He was sent by God to declare God's testimony of His
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Because Christ is all. I pray
God will give us the same glorious testimony that Christ is all,
all in all. Nothing else matters. All right. May the Lord bless His word.