It's worth seeing what he says,
because we've seen in the first part of John chapter 3, and earlier,
Jesus himself speaking. But now in this final bit of
John chapter 3, we have the separate testimony of John the Baptist. So we need to see what he says. I've called this John the Baptist's
view of Christ. John the Baptist's view of Christ.
Now, we see that after the encounter with Nicodemus, Jesus and his
disciples, verse 22, came into the land of Judea, round about
the land of Judea, around Jerusalem. That's where Judea was. It was
the area surrounding Jerusalem. And there he tarried with them
and baptized, though not he himself. Our Lord Jesus Christ himself
didn't baptize. You see that in chapter 4 and
verse 2, though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples.
It was his disciples, his servants, who did the baptizing. And not
far away, in verse 23 we read, And John also was baptizing in
Enon near to Salem because there was much water there and they
came and were baptized. John's message was a message
of baptism, of preparation, of cleansing, of symbolically washing
away sins in preparation for the coming of the kingdom of
God. And he was baptizing there because there was much water. there, which is a good indication
to us as to what really baptism is about. It isn't sprinkling
of babies, it's not that at all. It's immersion of the body. And
why? Because it's symbolical. It's symbolical of union with
Christ in his death. I am what I am because when Christ
lived, I lived with him. When he died, I died with him.
When he rose from the dead, I rose with him in the reckoning of
God. That's what it is. So sprinkling as a mode of baptism
is no good. And you say, well, what about
us? I know we haven't got the facilities. Maybe here, if and
when the time is right in God's own purposes, he'll grant us
the facility with much water. Well, the Jews who were always
trying to find fault with Jesus, we read about them in verse 25. There arose a question between
some of John's disciples and the Jews about purifying. and
and they came to john verse twenty six and they said to him rabbi
speaking to john he that was with the beyond jordan to whom
thou barest witness behold the same baptizes and all men come
to him the jews these jews had observed jesus and as far as
they were concerned they were trying to cause trouble for him
they'd observed and we might we might say that uh... they'd
observed that Jesus was stealing the thunder of John. You've heard
that expression, stealing the thunder of John. They saw it
as, well, he was nothing. I mean, John was the prominent
one and then this Jesus came to him and all of a sudden this
upstart is taking over from John. And they say to him in verse
26, they say, this one, this upstart who is stealing your
thunder, He's baptizing and all men come to Him. Obviously they
don't literally mean every single man and woman that ever was.
What they mean is a large number of people of all sorts are coming
to Him. Is there a rivalry here? Is there
a question of competition here? Who's the best baptizer? Who's
the one that's got the greatest following? Is there some rivalry
here? Because they thought that they
might be able to stir up some division. and some competition
between John the Baptist and Jesus, and thereby destroyed
the whole thing that they were doing. In effect, they were asking
John the Baptist a question that Jesus himself posed in Matthew's
Gospel 22 and verse 24. Don't look at it, but that's
the reference. What think ye of Christ? Whose
son is he? That's the question that Jesus
posed to the Pharisees. What do you think of Christ?
and they were asking this question of John the Baptist this upstart
who was nothing till he came to you is baptizing and he's
having tremendous success much better success than you all men
are coming to him he's having tremendous success is there not
some competition here does this not stir up some resentment in
you John the Baptist that this one has arisen and he's stealing
your thunder And he's succeeding where you're seeming not to succeed
that well at the moment. What do you think of him? What
do you think of this one, this Jesus of Nazareth? And the same
question is posed to you and to me. And it's absolutely fundamental. Of all questions, what do you
think of Christ? There is no greater, clearer
indication of the state of your immortal soul than this question.
What do you think of Christ? Your immortal soul is what I'm
talking about. The state of your immortal soul
hangs on your answer to that question. What do you think of
the Christ? You see, you can have opinions
about all sorts of people. We all do, don't we? I've got
opinions about all of you and you've got opinions about me.
We're bound to. It's just the fact that we come
into contact with each other. We exchange conversations. We
spend time together. You have opinions of one another.
And we have opinions about relatives and about colleagues that we
work with and about politicians and about celebrities, whether
they're any good or not. It's the talk of the playground
at school, isn't it? Which celebrity's the best and which isn't? We
have opinions about all of these things, all of these types of
people. But what we think of them, in
not the slightest degree, has any effect on our eternal destiny.
Obviously, there's the implication about not thinking bad thoughts
unnecessarily because that's an indication of a bad heart.
But what we think about them makes no difference to us eternally.
It doesn't at all. You might think that Gordon Brown
is a wonderful Prime Minister. You might think he's an absolutely
dreadful Prime Minister. But when it comes to the day
that you die, when it comes to that day when you leave this
life, it doesn't matter one iota, not in the slightest, whether
you thought Gordon Brown was a good Prime Minister or not,
but oh, oh listen, it matters enormously. It's the one determining
factor what you thought of the Lord Jesus Christ, what He was
to you, what you believe you were in Him, that matters enormously. The whole, the whole of eternity
hinges on that thing. What do you think of the Lord
Jesus Christ? Where do you stand in relation
to Him? Because where you stand determines
As it says at the end here, verse 36, He that believeth on the
Son has everlasting life. Now, now, now, as you're breathing
now, he that believes on the Son of God has everlasting life. And he that believes not the
Son shall not see that life, but the wrath of God abides on
him. That's a stark contrast, a terrible
division. Life and death. It really is
a matter of life and death. Well, we see John's answer to
that question in verses 27 to 36. I just want to break it down
and look at these verses. Verses 27 to 30. Read them with me. John answered
and said, when they came to him, saying, What do you think of
this one? John answered and said, A man can receive nothing except
it be given him from heaven. ye yourselves bear me witness
that I said I am not the Christ but that I am sent before him
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
he must increase but I must decrease this is how John replies you
see the Jews thought they could provoke division They thought
they could provoke rivalry and envy and mutual destruction,
perhaps, and get rid of this aggravation that was disturbing
their settled state in their religion. And John says first
of all, whatever he is, the Lord Jesus Christ, in relation to
me, you can only be what God has given you to be. That's it,
ultimately. This is not This is not an encouragement
to sit back and do nothing and to have no ambition and to do
nothing with your education and make nothing of your life, not
at all. But it's a recognition of this, that ultimately what
you are and what you have is determined by the God of Heaven.
The God of Heaven. Not your genes, not your lineage,
not your traditions, by the God of Heaven. It's of Him. It's
of Him that gives these things as He will. You can only be what
God has given you to be. This is exactly what Jesus said
to Pontius Pilate when they were trying Jesus in that sham trial
before the crucifixion. And he was in the hall with Pilate.
The Jews had delivered him to Pilate to be crucified because
they couldn't do it themselves. And he's talking to Jesus and
he wasn't getting much response. And Pilate said to Jesus, don't
you realize who I am? Don't you realize that I have
power to kill you or to make you alive? And Jesus said to
him, you've got no power at all other than that which was given
you from heaven. And that's the truth. Whatever
you are, we're in the hands of the living God. We're at the
mercy of the living God. To dispense his mercy and his
goodness and whatever he wants to. That's why we say, you know,
is it in the funeral service, but you know the idea as Job
said, look at all these things that have happened to you and
he said, the Lord gives. and the Lord takes away. Blessed
be the name of the Lord, whatever state I'm in. Blessed be the
name of the Lord. In the days of the Reformation,
there were those who knew this gospel of grace and they clung
to it. And for clinging to it, they
were thrown into prison, they had all of their estates and
their belongings and their family taken away from them. You read
Luther's hymn, they might take away our family, children, wife,
all of our possessions. but holding on to this, holding
on to this one thing. They were rich because they were
in the state of the mercy of God that had been given them
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And what they were was what God
had given them and what God had made them. The Lord gives and
the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
You know, there's a lesson for us here, just as we pass. As
Paul writes to Timothy, 1 Timothy chapter 6 and verse 6, with contentment
is great gain. Godliness with contentment is
great gain. We live in a world of constantly
striving for the next good thing. Of constantly striving for self-betterment
all the time. And so often, as it says in the
book of Proverbs, all we're doing is earning wages to put them
in a bag that's full of holes. Because as hard as we try to
grab and to cling on to things, they fall through a bag that's
got holes in it, and we're no richer. John had already told
them, he says. He says, I've already told you,
verse 28, you yourselves bear me witness, you heard me say
this, that I said, I am not the Christ. There's no need for rivalry
here. I am not the Christ. I'm just
the one that was sent before him. I'm just the voice, as Isaiah
said, hundreds of years before, crying in the wilderness, prepare
ye the way of the Lord. make straight a path in the wilderness. All the valleys shall be raised
up and the mountains made low that it might be easy for him
to come." He's the one who came sent before him to prepare the
way of the Lord. He says, I'm not the Christ.
You're not going to stir up any rivalry here. No. I'm just sent
to prepare the way. But Jesus, He'd already told
them. You bear me witness what I said.
I'm not the Christ. You bear me witness and you read
back in chapter one. You bear me witness what he'd
already said, that Jesus is the Lamb of God. He is the Lamb of
God. There is the essence of His message. He is the substitute for sinners. He is God's substitute for sinners. He is God's perfect substitute
Lamb who would shed His blood to pay the price of sin that
His people might be counted righteous. For He made Him who knew no sin
to be made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him." No, he said, I'm not the Christ, He is the
Christ, the Son of the living God, the Lamb of God, the sinner's
substitute, the King of God's kingdom. How could John possibly
contemplate competition with the Lord Jesus Christ? How could
he? He'd said, the one who is coming
I'm not even worthy to stoop down and undo his sandals for
him." Meaning, to do that most menial job in the big house.
When you started in the big house, the most menial job they could
give you to do was the one of taking the sandals off the dirty
feet of the travelers coming to the house and you'd get down
and you'd wash their feet. And he said, I'm not worthy.
I'm not fit. The lowest of the low in the
household jobs, I'm not fit to do that. because he's so much
greater than I am, I'm just the voice sent before him. And in
verse 29, he says this, look what's happening, he said there's
a wedding going on. There's a wedding. And he said the bride, the bride
is possessed of the bridegroom. Wedding days are great happy
occasions, aren't they? We love wedding days. And the
happiness of the bride and the bridegroom, the groom because
he's got this delightful person, this lovely person who's going
to be his wife. and he's delighted, and look what John says, the
friend of the bridegroom stands and hears him, rejoices greatly
because of the bridegroom's voice, this my joy, I'm that friend
he's saying, therefore is fulfilled. John's saying I'm just the best
man at the wedding, that Christ the groom has come for his bride,
his church, his people, he's come to save them, the Lamb of
God out of the world, and I'm just the bridegroom standing
by, I'm just preparing the way, And look, you're trying to stir
up rivalry. You're trying to get me in opposition
to Him. I'm just delighted to hear the
bridegroom's voice. That's what John says. You see?
This, my joy, is therefore fulfilled because there's no rivalry. Verse 30. Remember this verse.
He, the Lord Jesus Christ, He must increase. I must decrease. He must increase. It's written
in eternity, He must increase. He cannot not increase. He must
become more than I am. He must do. For the purpose for
which He's come, He must increase. All servants decrease compared
with Him. All servants only point the way.
They'd never ever try to become the way. Look at religion. Look at organized religion. Look
at it. Look how men allow others to
put them in the place of the Lord Jesus Christ, and honor
them, and venerate them, and bow down to them, and carry them
on chairs, and kiss their feet, and do all of these things to
them. Look how they set up statues of the earthly mother of Jesus
and worship her as if that's going to bring them to Him. Absolutely
not. No. He must increase. He must
fill all in all. It's God's will that He increase
above all else. This is it. You can never ever
exalt the Lord Jesus Christ too highly. You never can. Somebody
once said to me years ago about a church that we were in and
it was a good church and Christ was proclaimed. And this person
said to me, I've got a problem with this church in that Jesus
is very much brought to the fore. It's all about Jesus. shouldn't be about anything else. He is the answer. He is the message. A person is the message. Not
a way of life. A person is the message. You
cannot exalt him too much. Listen what God says. You might
like to turn to it. Colossians chapter 1. The epistle
to the Colossians in chapter 1 and verse 18. We read it right
at the start. Colossians chapter 1. give you
a moment to find it the epistle of Paul to the Colossians and
the first chapter verse 18 and he is speaking of Christ the
Son of the Living God he is the head of the body the church who
is the beginning the firstborn from the dead that in all things
he might have the preeminence you see that in all things he
might have the preeminence Our Lord Jesus Christ is preeminent
in the universe. Preeminent above all things.
There's nothing higher. There's nobody greater. For it
pleased the Father. It pleased the Father that in
Him all the fullness should dwell. Do you remember just a few months
ago back in the autumn we were looking at the book of Daniel
and we came across that great Emperor Nebuchadnezzar who had
a dream. the greatest emperor ever, the
head of gold of the kingdom of Babylon. He had a dream, and
in that dream he saw a statue, which was the history of the
world, ordained, all set up. There it was, gold, silver, bronze,
iron, and feet of iron mixed with clay, the weakness that
was in the feet. And do you remember what he saw?
He saw a little stone, cut out without hands, not human made,
Not at all. Cut out without hands. A tiny
little stone. Insignificant compared with this
great king. Look at us today. Look at the
people who love the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ here in
Nebwith today. And look at this great world
all around us. Full of its politics and its
economics and its work and its business and everything that
everybody wants to do and all of its masses of religion. Look
at it all. And here's like a little tiny pebble in comparison. And what happens to that little
tiny pebble in the dream? It grows. It grows. It comes. It becomes a great mountain that
fills the whole earth and it sweeps away the empires of the
earth and it grinds them to dust and powder so that at the end
there's nothing left. There's not even a trace of them.
They're gone completely. Isn't it interesting that if
you go to the Middle East and you try and find the place that
was Babylon, that greatest of kingdoms, archaeologically There's
evidence that it was there, but you can hardly find it. It's
just dust in the desert. Dust in the desert, that's all.
But the little stone has come. This is what John is saying.
He must increase, but I must decrease. He is the one who's
come. He is the great, the little stone
become a great mountain to sweep away the empires of the earth.
This is John's testimony. What do you think of Christ,
John? This man, Jesus, that you're
talking about, you Jews, This man is none other than the Christ
of God. The promised substitute of God. God himself become man that he
might purchase his church with his own blood. The Lord of glory
come to this earth to purchase his church with his own blood.
Look at verses 31 to 35 next. He that cometh from above, this
is John continuing. 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 he that hath seen and heard and that he testifieth
and sorry I'll read that again 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 this is John continuing
what he says to them Jesus he says this one that you're trying
to make some sort of rivalry between me and him he is from
heaven he is from heaven he sent from above he's the one that
comes from above I'm just the one from the earth Oh yes, sent
by God, but I'm earthly. John's acknowledging he's a sinner.
I'm just earthly. When he speaks, he can only speak
in earthly similes. He can only speak in earthly
parables, but he that cometh from heaven is above all. There's
a difference between us. An enormous difference between
us. This is God who has come, he says. Verse 34, He whom God
hath sent speaketh the words of God. For God giveth not the
Spirit by measure unto Him." This is God the Word. This Jesus
is God the Word of God. In the beginning was the Word
and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The same was
with God in the beginning. All things were made by Him and
without Him was not anything made that was made. This is God
coming, speaking the words of God and that's why He's called
the Word of God. He alone, this Jesus alone as
God speaks God's Word. All other prophets, all other
preachers are only true in so much as they echo His words.
As I've said to you so often, when you hear a man preaching,
you're listening for the voice of the shepherd, the true shepherd,
the great shepherd of the sheep. All other men are only under-shepherds.
If you don't hear the shepherd's voice in what a man speaks, then
you have no obligation to regard them as his shepherd at all.
He may be called pastor. He may be called vicar. He may
be called bishop. He may be called archbishop.
But if you do not hear, as the children of God, the voice of
the great shepherd of the sheep, then you pay them no attention
and you don't listen to their words because there are wolves
come in sheep's clothing. There are those who have come,
and the Scriptures warn us again and again, who deceive. And if
it were possible, they would deceive even the elect because
their deception is so subtle and so convincing. but the elect
cannot be deceived by it they will hear his voice they will
follow him and so it is prophets and preachers are only true in
so much as they echo the words of this man Jesus Christ servants
his servants all preachers all prophets all of us in walking
the Christian life are given the spirit by measure measured
out for the purpose Ephesians 4 And verse 7 says this, but
unto every one of us is given grace. All of God's people are
given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. He gives it for the situation.
You know, you'll find yourself in a real testing situation in
terms of witnessing to the truth and you'll find that in yourself
you've got no strength, but he gives the Spirit according to
the measure of the need of the moment. But Christ The Son of
God, the Word of God, who comes speaking the Word of God, He
has the Spirit without limiting measure, verse 34. He giveth
not the Spirit by measure unto Him. He has the Spirit of God
in an unlimited way. This man clothed in flesh, the
likeness of sinful flesh, He has the Spirit without limiting
measure. The Father, verse 35, loves the
Son. This is This is the intimate
details of the Triune God that as human beings we can only read
it and know that God intends us to know about it but we cannot
understand it. The Father loves the Son and
has given all things into His hands. All things into the Son's
hands. All things, what things? All
gospel grace. The grace and the power to dispense
gospel grace. The Father has given into the
hands of this man, Jesus Christ. All divine justice, He's given
to Him. All judgment, He's given to Him.
All creation, He's given to Him. It's all in His hands. And so
He has the preeminence. And you know what Psalm 2 says?
Psalm 2 talks about this world shaking its fist in the face
of God, for they will not have this one to rule over them. And
it says this about this Jesus, kiss the son, kiss the son, you
kings of the earth, kiss the son, however powerful you may
be, kiss the son, lest he be angry with you, and you perish
in the way. That's Psalm 2. He's given all
things into his hands. All things. This is our God.
This is our sovereign God in human flesh. And the message
he brings? What was the message that he
brought? We know It's not explicitly given to us here, but we know
that this was John's message from his earlier pronouncements. The rest of Scripture testifies
this. It's a message of the kingdom of God. And what does that message
mean? It means peace with God. Don't
you want to have peace with God? Don't you want to be able to
say, I am at peace with the God of the universe? That I can lie
me down to sleep peacefully, without any worries about eternity.
If I'm taken in this night, if I'm taken, I can lie me down
peacefully to sleep because I know I'm at peace with the Living
God. I'm no longer his enemy in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's
a message of peace with God for his people. It's a message of
peace with God for those whom the Father gave to the Son in
eternity, outside of time. It's a message of peace purchased
at great cost. He didn't just give it as a whim
It's a piece that is purchased at great cost. The cost was of
Him, God, the second person of the Trinity, coming as the Son,
as Christ, and living in the place of His people, and obeying
the law perfectly as a man in the place of His people, and
of being made sin, being made sin. You know God cannot, cannot
punish an innocent man. In the moment when Christ was
made sin, with his people's sins when he was loaded with every
sin his people would commit in all time he was guilty of that
sin and God justly punished him God couldn't punish him if he
was innocent he was the innocent lamb of God but he was loaded
with the sins of his people and so became guilty of those sins
and bore their consequences in the place of his people on the
cross of Calvary being made sin loaded with his people's sin
Bearing judicial guilt and its consequences, he paid the price
with his precious lifeblood. That's what he poured out. This
is the testimony of Jesus Christ. Verse 32. What he hath seen and
heard, that he testifieth. It's the message of heaven. It's
the message of eternity. He's testified that message.
And no man receiveth his testimony. No man. No natural man. No natural
man receives his testimony. no person as they are receives
his testimony but he that hath received his testimony there
are some hath set to his seal that God is true he that hath
received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true
that might be translated he that received his testimony is already
sealed because God is true the sealing of the spirit comes for
those whom God chose in Christ before the beginning of time.
And as a result, when they hear the testimony of Jesus Christ
concerning the gospel of Jesus Christ, they believe it. They
receive it. They set to his seal that God
is true. They're born of God. And the
reason that they believe it is because they are sealed by the
Holy Spirit. They are amongst his elect. Who
will believe it? Will you believe it? He that
received his testimony is already sealed because God is true. the
elect of God are given the seal of the Spirit in the new birth
they're quickened they're made alive Ephesians 2 verse 1 you
who were dead in trespasses and sins he hath quickened he's made
alive by his Spirit unless a man be born again said Jesus to Nicodemus
he cannot see the kingdom of God except a man be born again
he cannot enter the kingdom of God they believe his testimony
his gospel because they are the sealed of the Holy Spirit they're
born of the Spirit It isn't the other way around. You must understand
this. It's not that you become sealed
because you believe the gospel. That's what so many teach. But
that's not what this scripture teaches. This scripture teaches
that you believe because you're sealed by the Holy Spirit. Look
at some scriptures with me. Revelation chapter 7. Revelation
chapter 7. And verse 1. And after these things I saw
four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding
the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow
on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another
angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living
God. And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom
it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not
the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed
the servants of our God in their foreheads there's a people that
are sealed by God they're his elect from all time look at 2nd
Corinthians and chapter 1 2nd Corinthians and the first chapter
and verses 21 and 22 now he which stablisheth us with
you in Christ and hath anointed us is God who hath also sealed
us and given the earnest of the spirit in our hearts this is
the new birth he sealed his people and given the new birth and then
Ephesians chapter one Ephesians chapter one and verse twelve that we should be to the praise
of His glory who first trusted in Christ the glory of Him who
trusted in Christ that was the Father who trusted in Christ
to save His people in whom ye also trusted after that ye heard
the word of truth the gospel of your salvation in whom also
after that ye believed you were sealed with that Holy Spirit
of promise what difference does this make to me what difference
does it make verse thirty-six this is the conclusion of the
matter and we'll finish with this 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 that's
a stark contrast that's an alarming contrast what do you think of
Christ? if you believe who he is and
his testimony concerning eternity and divine justice it's because
you have been sealed by the spirit and in Christ alone you have
everlasting life that's what that's saying you believe him
because you've been sealed by the spirit but it also says this
it talks about responsibility if you do not believe it is because
you've chosen to reject the testimony of Jesus and in rejecting the
testimony of Jesus as John says in his first epistle and uh... don't you turn to it I'll just
turn it up quickly 1 John chapter 5 and 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 you see that if you choose not
to believe you make God a liar and you remain spiritually dead
And there's a dreadful prospect of hell and wrath outside of
time. And that is John the Baptist's
view of Christ. He must increase. I must decrease. Henry Mahan said this. Here is
the inevitable alternative. All things are in Christ. All
things are ours through union with Christ. That union with
Christ comes through faith in Christ. Those who believe not
shall not see life nor enter in nor enjoy it and here are
some other words Charles Spurgeon said this I
remember the striking words of Philip Henry the father of the
famous Matthew Henry the one who wrote his commentary when
he was dying his friends stood round about his bed and he said
what a blessing it is Matthew that I have not to make my peace
with God now my body is full of pain and my mind is greatly
disturbed by reason of it oh said he if that were undone and
had now to be done how could it be done what a mercy when
that great transaction is complete he that believeth the son hath
everlasting life now come pain or weakness come long sleep come
broken down spirit what does it matter it is well all is well