He Must Increase - I Must Decrease

Q: What does the Bible say about the authority of Christ's servants?

The Bible states that what is done by Christ's true servants is as if Christ himself did it, acting under his authority. The authority of Christ's servants is clearly shown in passages such as Luke 10:16, where Jesus tells his disciples, 'He that heareth you, heareth me.' This establishes that true servants acting under Christ's authority convey His message and perform His works as if He were doing it Himself. Furthermore, in 2 Corinthians 5:20, it states that we are ambassadors for Christ, beseeching others to be reconciled to God, underscoring the weight of the responsibility placed upon genuine servants of Christ to represent Him faithfully.

Q: Why is immersion important in baptism?

Immersion is significant in baptism as it symbolizes the believer's identification with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection. Baptism by immersion is essential because it reflects the biblical mode of baptism as seen in John 3:23, where John the Baptist was baptizing in a place with much water. Not only does immersion adequately symbolize the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, as stated in Romans 6, but it also represents the believer's identification with Him. The act of going under the water signifies being buried with Christ, while coming up from the water symbolizes resurrection to new life. Thus, the proper mode of baptism is integral to conveying the full essence of the believer's faith and relationship with Christ.

Q: How do we know that Jesus is the bridegroom?

Jesus is identified as the bridegroom who owns the church, described in scripture as His bride. In John 3:29, John declares that 'He that hath the bride is the bridegroom,' referring to Christ's relationship with His people. The church, as the bride, is composed of all believers whom God has chosen and redeemed. This relationship emphasizes Christ's role as the protector and provider for His church, which He loves sacrificially. The imagery of Christ as the bridegroom signifies not only His ownership but also the intimate and covenantal relationship He has with His people, highlighting the profound love He has for them as His bride.

these things recorded in the
earlier verses of John chapter 3. And having spent most of our
time on these things, we're not too familiar with the other verses
in John chapter 3, are we? I imagine most everyone here
can tell you about everything that occurs up to verse 22. But after verse 22, We're not
too familiar with those verses, and that's what I want us to
look at tonight. So after these things, verse
22, came Jesus, our Lord, and his disciples into the land of
Judea. And there he tarried with them
and baptized. Now this verse, verse 22, which
clearly says that our Lord Jesus Seemingly, it's clear, he baptized.
But this verse has to be interpreted in the light of John chapter
4, right across the page, verse 2. John 4, verse 2. It says, Jesus himself baptized
not, but his disciples. You see, no scripture is of any
private interpretation. I've tried to say that. the scripture
is interpreted in the light of the scriptures. And what this
is saying, now this is interesting, there's an important principle
established here. Verse 22 says that there he tarried
with his disciples and baptized, you see that? What that is clearly
saying is this, what is done What is said and done by the
servants of Christ, the true servants of Christ, what is said
and done by the true servants of Christ, by his authority,
by his grace, and under his direction, is the same as if Christ did
it himself. That's right. Now, we can't usurp
authority. I hear these preachers on television
saying they've been given authority to cast out demons and authority
to do this and authority to do that, and I question all of this
authority that has been taken upon themselves. But where there's
a true servant of Christ acting under the authority that Christ
himself has given by his grace in his will, What is said and
done is the same as if our Lord Himself said it and did it. Now
let me show you that. Hold John 3 and turn to Luke
chapter 10. Turn to Luke chapter 10. Let's
see if I can make good on that. Luke chapter 10, verse 16. Now please remember, I didn't
say everybody who runs out saying he's preaching in the name of
Christ What he binds will be bound, what he looses will be
loosed. I'm not saying that at all. I'm saying the true servant,
under the authority of Christ, preaching by the will of Christ,
or teaching or whatever, what he says and what he does, is
the same as if Christ did it. Luke 10, verse 16, he said to
his disciples, he that heareth you, heareth me. And he that despiseth you, despiseth
me. And he that despiseth me, despiseth
him that sent me." And then turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. 2
Corinthians chapter 5. That's when our Lord sent out
the seven. That's what he said to them.
You go in my name. I'm sending you. My Father sent
me, so send I you. And he that heareth you, heareth
me. And he that despises you, despises
me. And he that despises me despises
him that sent me." Now, 2 Corinthians 5, verse 20, listen to Paul here. Now then, we are ambassadors
for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us. You see that as though I'm an
ambassador, if I am an ambassador of Christ. If the gospel has
been entrusted to my care, if God is. pleased to use this vessel,
then I beseech you, listen to this, as though God did beseech
you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. We pray you how? In the very
stead of Christ. All right, now go back to verse,
John chapter 3, verse 23. And John John the Baptist also was baptizing
in Enon, near to Salem, because there was much water there. There's
much water there. Now then, this is one of those
verses in the Bible which plainly teaches that baptism, the proper
mode of baptism, is by immersion. If baptism confessing Christ
in baptism, identifying with Christ in baptism, if it's to
be done by sprinkling water or by pouring water, then why does
it say here that John was there at a particular place baptizing
people? They came, he said, and were
baptized of him. Why does it say he was there?
Because much water was there, because much water is needed
for true baptism. Baptism is for believers, not
for infants, not for unbelievers. He that believeth and is baptized. You know, when the Ethiopian
eunuch asked Philip if he could be baptized, he said, as they
journeyed down across the desert, he said, here's water. What does
hinder me from being baptized? Well, in most places, nothing
would hinder him. They'd baptize him to get another
church member. They'd baptize him to count another
convert. They'd baptize him for one reason
or another, but Philip wouldn't do that. Philip hedged baptism
around with one question. One question. If thou believest
with all thine heart that Jesus is the Christ, I'll baptize anybody
who can answer that in the affirmative. If you believe that Jesus is
the Christ, that little ten-day-old infant or a month-old infant,
ask him that question. If he believes with all his heart
that Jesus is the Christ, then you have permission to baptize
him. But he doesn't believe that. And then, you know, how can we
read these scriptures in, don't turn to it, but in Matthew, it
says that our Lord John the Baptist baptized him, and when he came
up straightway out of the water, the heavens were opened and the
Spirit of God descended in the form of a dove. Baptism is by
immersion. In Acts chapter 8, it says, they
went down both into the water. Isn't that what it says? Both
went down into the water. Both the one who is baptizing
and the one who is to be baptized. And then in Romans chapter 6,
it says we are buried with Christ in baptism. All right? It's very clear. When a person
wants to know the will of God and the word of God, it's not
too difficult. I hear people say, well, I don't
understand the Bible. Yeah, I think we do. I think we do. I think we don't like what we
read. I think we understand it. That's not the problem. That's
not the problem. And then down here in verse 24,
John was still preaching, he was still baptizing, he was not
yet cast into prison, but he was still out there preaching
the gospel. And verse 25 says, and there arose an argument,
there arose a question, conflict between some of John's disciples
and the Jews about purifying. Now, some of John's disciples
And the Jews were in conflict over purifying. You see, the
Jews had so many washings and purifying and ceremonies. Some were scriptural and some
were not. Some were traditional. Like when our Lord and his disciples
ate without washing their hands. And these Jews came running up
and said, why do you eat without washing your hands? That's a
tradition of the fathers, to always wash. before you eat. They had all kind of traditions
about purifying and washing. We have no way of knowing what
the issue was here. We just know there was a conflict,
that's all it says. It doesn't explain it, it doesn't
explain which baptisms or which washings or which purifying,
but these Jews, these lawmen We're in conflict with John's
disciples over the tradition of the fathers. That's what it
was, the tradition of the fathers. And boy, we can really get into
conflict over tradition, can't we? You know, most church arguments
and conflicts between preachers and preachers and preachers and
churches and churches and churches is not over the gospel, not over
who Christ is, what he did, why he did it, where he is, but over
tradition and custom. Well, I understand the next verse,
verse 26. It's not hard to figure out.
They came to John, these Jews, these traditionalists, these
defenders of custom, they came to John and they said, Rabbi,
I wonder what their motive was here. I wonder what they were
trying to do. Rabbi, he that was with thee
beyond Jordan, They're talking about Jesus of Nazareth now.
They're talking about Christ. He that was with you beyond Jordan,
to whom you bear witness, behold, he baptizes too. And he's baptizing
more than you are. All men come to him. He's got
some real crowds. What was their motive here? What
were they trying to do? I wonder if they had a motive
like this. They were trying to make John
envious and jealous of the Lord Jesus Christ. They were trying
to set up something here, Bob, between John and Christ. I see that. You know, John, the
fellow who was with you beyond Jordan, the one to whom you bear
witness, he's baptizing, he's preaching. And all people, people
from everywhere, all over the world are coming to hear him.
Now this is a favorite device of the enemies of Christ. This
is a favorite device, to make one servant of the Lord. I'm
not talking here just about preachers, because we're all servants of
the Lord. Whether we sing or play or preach or pray or give
or witness or teach or whatever. We're all servants of the Master,
are we not? Servants of Christ. And Paul
said, I'm not ignorant of Satan's devices. I'm not ignorant of
his devices. I know how he operates. I know
how he creeps in and tries to lead, people try to lead disciples
off after themselves and all these things. And he tries to
make one servant of the Lord envious and jealous of another.
I found that several times. Turn to the book of Numbers.
I'll just read you a couple, numbers. Numbers chapter 11. Numbers chapter 11, listen to
this. Numbers 11, let's begin with
verse 26. Numbers, I want you to read this
now, turn it in your Bibles to Numbers 11, 26. But there remained two of the
men in the camp, the name of the one was Eldad, and the name
of the other was Medad. Eldad and Medad. Any of y'all
ever have twins again, that's two good names. Eldad and Medad,
or Huzz and Buzz, those are two good names. 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 now watch this, and there ran a young man and told Moses,
and said, Moses, 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. Those fellows, forbid
them. And Moses said, Envious thou
for my sake? Do you expect me to... Envy these
men? Be jealous of these men? Are
you envious for my sake? Would God, listen to this, would
God that all the Lord's people were prophets? Would God that
the Lord would put His Spirit upon all of them? Moses said,
God forbid that I should be envious or jealous God forbid that I
should not rejoice in any and every instrument whom God uses. I tell you this, God has chosen
the foolish things of this world. The things that are not, the
things that are despised, the things that we don't regard,
He'll use whom He will. And Paul rejoiced in that. Hold
John 3 and turn to Philippians and listen to Paul on this subject.
Philippians chapter 1, listen to the Apostle Paul as he deals
with this subject of Indian strife and divisions among preachers
and other servants of the Lord. He says in Philippians 1 verse
14, And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident
by my imprisonment, my bonds, my fetters, are much more bold
to speak the word without fear. Some indeed preach Christ even
of envy and strife. Some also of goodwill. The one
preached Christ of contention, not sincere, supposing to add
affliction to my bonds, but the other out of love, knowing that
I'm set for the defense of the gospel. What then? What's my
reaction to that? What's my response? Notwithstanding
every way, whether in pretense or in truth, whether in envy
or jealousy, whether in strife or whatever, Christ is preached. And I rejoice. Now I tell you
this, those men were preaching Christ or Paul wouldn't have
rejoiced, because Paul said if any man preached not Christ,
let him be accursed. I rejoice. I rejoice. Now let's go back to our text.
Here they're trying to set up something here, and they're trying
to drive a wedge between John and his master. They're trying
to stir up John to jealousy and envy. And John answered. Now here, Brother Cecil paused
right here. I thought he was going to preach
my sermon when he paused there, because I know he sees the same
thing I do here, the same thing. John, in these verses, the next
two or three verses, John declares four things, four magnificent,
marvelous truths, four things you've got to see. Four things
which express the true feeling of every true servant of God
Almighty, of the Lord Jesus Christ in this building, whatever their
capacity. Whether they cut the grass, or
keep the nursery, or cook the meals, or preach the sermons,
or pray, or whatever, here is whatever true servant of Christ
knows and believes, and those four things in which he rejoices
from the least to the greatest. Here they are, number one. Number
one, John answered and said, all right. They tried to drive that way.
They tried to cause trouble, didn't they Jim? He said, I'm
going to tell you something. Number one, a man can receive
nothing. I don't care whether it's the
power to believe, the power to repent, whether it's conviction
of sin or conversion to God, whether it's the power to breathe
or the strength to walk, whether it's the power to think or the
power to speak. What's the power to gain or lose
it? A man can receive nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Except it be given him from above.
Do you believe that? Well, it's so whether we believe
it or not. Nothing. Nothing. Sovereign mercy. Sovereign grace. Sovereign gifts. Paul said, who makes you to differ?
Who makes you to differ? When do you differ? What do you have you didn't receive
from God? Well, if you did receive it,
why do you rejoice as if you didn't receive it? Turn with
me to 1 Corinthians 12. Hold our text and turn to 1 Corinthians
12. This needs to be considered. 1 Corinthians 12, verse 11. A man can receive nothing except
that be it be given him from above. Let that first be settled.
Who I am, what I am, what I know, what I do, what I can do, is
by the grace of God. In 1 Corinthians 12, verse 11, He talks about the different
gifts of the Spirit in the church. But all these, verse 11, worketh
that one and selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally
as he will. What gift do you have? What ability
do you have? What talent do you have? God gave it. Look at verse 18,
that same chapter, chapter 12, verse 18. Listen to this. Now,
but now, hath God set the members, members of his body, every one
of them in the body as it pleases him. That's all right by me. Is that
all right by you, Frank? I'm glad he did it. How would you like to see a body
I designed? He makes no mistakes. That's
the first thing. Let that be settled first and
foremost. All right, back to our text. That's the first thing
John said. A man can receive nothing except it be given him
from above. Now then, he's not only talking
about himself, but he's talking about Christ, because Christ
glorified not himself to be made a high priest, but he that said
unto him, Thou art my son, he made him the high priest. He
made him the Redeemer, all right? That's so. That's even talking
about the representatives, the representative of the elect.
Christ is the Redeemer because the Father made him the Redeemer.
All right, notice verse 28 now. Here's the second thing. That's
the first thing John said in reply to this charge. Verse 28,
here's the second thing. He said, you yourselves bear
me witness. I said, I said this to you. You
remember back yonder when you came and asked me, are you the
Christ? And I said, no. You said, are you Elijah? And
I said, no. Are you one of the prophets there, the dead one?
No. Well, who are you? He said, I'm
a voice. I'm a voice. Now you bear, I
told you that back there in John 1. I told you, I said this in
verse 28, I told you I am not the Christ. I'm sent to bear witness. I'm
sent before him. I'm not the Christ. I'm a voice,
no more, no less. No preacher. I tried to say this
earlier in the message, what we are commissioned to do, what
we have the authority to do, given by Christ at that special,
particular time, where he is involved by his will and his
spirit. All right, it's as if Christ
did it, but we don't bear that power continuously to do what
we will, do what he wills. And I'm just a voice. If God's
pleased to anoint that voice at some particular time, then
fine, but it's still just a voice. That's right, that's all, just
a voice, just a messenger. Old Dr. James L. Gray wrote a hymn entitled, Only
a Sinner Saved by Grace. I'm told, years ago, I was told
by someone the story behind that hymn. James M. Gray was a teacher in a certain
seminary, a teacher of the Word of God, young preachers. And
he was sort of a single-minded man, sort of a one-track mind.
in a thought pattern and he wouldn't know anything that was going
on around him. And someone spoke to him and he didn't speak. He
didn't answer. He might have been hard of hearing like me,
you know, but he didn't answer. And they got the rumor started
that the old man was growing proud and arrogant. And he found out about it and
it broke his heart. And he went in and wrote that
hymn. Not have I gotten, but what I received. Grace hath bestowed
it, since I believe, boasting excluded. Pride I base, I'm only
a sinner saved by grace. Suffer a sinner whose heart overflows,
loving the Savior to tell what he knows. Once more to tell it
would I embrace. I'm only a sinner saved by grace."
That's what John's saying here. A man can receive nothing except
God gives it to him. And secondly, I'm not anybody.
I'm not the Christ. I'm not some great prophet. I'm just a voice. That's all. And what's the next verse? Verse
29. He that hath the bride, that's
the bridegroom. He that hath the bride, he's
the bridegroom. Do you understand this? Who's
the bride? The bride's the church. The bride is his sheep. The bride
is God's elect. The bride, that's the people
of God. Well, whose bride is it? It's
Christ's bride. That bride belongs to him. God
chosen, blood bought, spirit called, elect of God is in the
bride, and that bride belongs to Christ. That's His bride. The Father gave them to Him.
He bought that bride on Calvary. The Holy Spirit anoints them
and convicts them and brings them to Him. They're not my people,
they're His people. That's what John's saying. John said, whatever I have, God
gave it to me. John said, I'm not anybody, I'm
just a boy, besides, he that has the bride, he's the bridegroom. He's the bridegroom, the one
that has the bride. And what's this? And the friend
of the bridegroom, whether he's the preacher, who
does the marrying, or the best man, or his friend stands next to
him, or the maid of honor, and they hear him, they rejoice
with the bridegroom because of the bridegroom's voice. This
is my joy. This my joy is fulfilled. I'm
not jealous of the bridegroom. The bride belongs to him. The
true friend The true friend, and I started this off this way,
the true servant, the true friend of Christ, he's not jealous or
envious of the bridegroom, he rejoices in the happiness of
the bridegroom. He said, my very joy is fulfilled
because he's happy. He's glorified. I thought about
a wedding here at this church, any wedding that we have, and
surrounded by all the friends and the family and the grandmothers
and granddaddies preacher and the best man and all these girls
standing around here, you know, and all these folks gathered.
Is anybody envious or jealous? No, they see the happiness of
the young couple and that makes us happy. We're there for one
reason, to share in their happiness. Isn't that right, Bob? To share
in their happiness. And that's what John's saying.
Don't come to me with this personal Merit, personal glory. He said, I won't have any part
of it. Don't come to me with any success or glory of my Lord
causing me any problems. He said, the happier he is, the
happier I am. Whatever I have, God gave me.
Whatever I have, God gave me. And I'm not anybody anyway. I
started out nobody and I'll wind up nobody. That's right. But
if the bridegroom's happy, if he embraces his bride, that's
what I came here for. That's what I came, I came here
to make them one. And then the fourth thing, he
said, watch this. Anyway, he must increase. He must, he will. That's the
whole program of the Father, that he must increase. He will,
he must increase. He prayed himself, you glorify
me with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
That's the very purpose and program of Almighty God, to exalt Christ
Jesus above all exaltation. Wherefore God hath highly exalted
him, and given him a name which is above every name, that it
the name of Jesus, every knee will bow, and every tongue will
confess that he is Lord, for the glory of God." He's going
to increase. He said one time in John 6, he
said to those people when they were offended, he talked about
his glory, his glory, and they were offended. He said, does
that offend you? What if you shall see the Son
ascend up where he was before? Does this offend you? Does a
man preaching Christ's sovereignty and his effectual substitutionary
work and his high priestly intercession and his glory and exaltation,
does that offend you? Does he talk too much about Christ? Boy, you wait! You wait. One of these days, every angel,
every seraphim, every cherubim, every tongue will confess in
heaven, earth, and hell, every voice is going to declare, He
is Lord, with one united proclamation. He's Lord! Don't you come to
me with this thing passing out a bunch of yo-yos in heaven and
castles and palaces for a bunch of nothings like you and me.
Every crown will be at His feet or on His head. That's right. And we gonna be glad of it. Glad
of it. That's right. Glad of it. No, he said, I'm not troubled.
He that hath the bride is the bridegroom. He's got her 110%. And I'm just standing over there
on the sidelines clapping my hands and rejoicing that he got
her. Because he deserves her. He bought
her. She's his. And I tell you what
I want to be, I want to be part of that bride. And then he gives me this thing,
he says, he must increase and I decrease. I decrease. Well, decrease how? All right, listen to me. I must
decrease in the esteem of the people. God uses me to point a man to
Christ. That man follows Christ, rejoices
in Christ. He doesn't follow me. He doesn't
even rejoice in me because we do not rejoice in anyone but
Christ, and we have no confidence in the flesh. I must decrease in the esteem
of the people. There's no one, Christ will not
share his glory. He won't do it. He will not do
it. Secondly, I must decrease in
my ministry, John said. John's on his way to the chopping
block. John's on his way to be killed. John's on his way for
his, he's a voice, but that voice is just about ready to be silenced. It's nearing the end, he said.
I've finished my course. I think he would say with the
Apostle Paul, I've finished my course. Another voice will come
along. Another voice will be heard, and mine will be silenced,
because I must decrease. I must. I'm just sent here to
preach Christ. And when God gets through with
the voice, he shuts it up. And the worst thing that a people
can try to do is to carry on a dead man's ministry. Did you
know that? David served his generation.
And that's the end. God has his own preachers at
his own time, to his own people, to his own dispensation and generation. And when that voice is silent,
let it be silent. Quit writing biographies about
fellas. Quit trying to elevate them and
lift them up. They don't belong there. Christ
belongs there. They belong right down there.
That's right, I must decrease. John said that. You fellas don't
bother me, he said. You're not bothering me about
this thing. Oh, but he's over there, and people are following
him. Praise the Lord. That's what they ought to do.
He's going to keep on increasing. You ain't seen nothing yet. But
I've got to decrease in the esteem of the people, in my ministry,
and in strength, and in health. Old age brings with it decay
and corruption, like all flesh. And everything about every one
of us, servants of the Lord, everything about us is fading
and will fade. Did you know that? It's a matter
of time. But what Christ has done, who
Christ is, that will increase. If we preached any truth, It'll
never die. Now, everything that we've done
in our own strength is going to go with us, and it ought to,
and I hope it does. But if we've done anything for
the glory of God and in His name, it'll live, because He lives. You know, I think about this.
Everybody in here, with the exception of one or two or three, everybody
in here knows who Charles Spurgeon was. Who was preaching when he was
converted? Nobody knows. Do you? Name the man. Can't do
it. I can't either. I'm a Spurgeon
student. Isn't that strange? God sent a voice. He read Isaiah
45, 22, look and live. As Tom said tonight, look and
love. And Spurgeon looked. And then that man quietly slipped
off into the darkness. One time, John Williams was a
great missionary. John Williams. Most folks heard
of John Williams. You know how he was converted? George Whitfield had a tabernacle
over there in England. John Williams was a wild young
man, a rebel. This was before he came to know
Christ. One night they were having services
in Whitefield's Tabernacle. Whitefield was not there. He
wasn't even there. They were having services in
the Tabernacle and John Williams and some of his rabble-rousing friends were walking
down the street and they didn't have any watches. Poor boys didn't
have any cents or watches either. But there was a clock, like that
chandler, in Whitfield's Tabernacle. Big long tabernacle. There was
a clock at the back wall of the Whitfield's Tabernacle. And one
of those boys said to John Williams, go in old man's Whitfield's Tabernacle
and see what time it is. John Williams said, not me. He
said, yeah, one of us got to go. You go. This is a true story. John Williams, this man was up
preaching. John Williams walked in the back door, like that,
and he backed down the aisle. He wasn't facing the preacher.
He backed down the aisle to get a look at the clock. And he was
standing there just for a few seconds to look at the clock,
and the word of the preacher smote him in the heart. And he
slowly turned around and listened to that sermon. and sat down
back there in the aisle and heard the message that God saved his
soul and sent him to the mission field for years as a faithful
preacher of God's good. Who was the preacher? Nobody
knows. Nobody remembered. That's what I'm saying. He must
increase. I must decrease. Every servant
of Christ. Now verse 31, oh how we need
to understand these words. He that cometh from above, he's
above all. He that's of the earth is earthy.
That's me, that's you. We're earthy. We're of the earth
and we're earthy. We speak those things which are
of the earth. You see that? We're of the earth,
we're earthy, we speak those things of the earth. How limited
we are. You know a lot of folks think
they're real smart, spiritually. They're real theologians. Real
smart. You know, somebody said a new
convert is like a wasp, a red wasp. It's biggest when it's
born. Did you know that? When a red
wasp is born, that's as big as it lives, but it keeps getting
smaller as it grows older. And most young religionists,
when they first come to the knowledge of a little gospel, Boy, that's
when they're biggest. They got all the answers. All
of them. But remember this, my dear friends.
And as you grow older, you begin to understand you don't understand.
And you begin to find out you don't know nearly as much as
you thought you did. In fact, the scripture said,
what does it say, Paul? He that thinketh he knoweth knows
nothing as he ought to. He that thinketh, he knoweth.
You say, where is that verse? Well, all right. Turn to 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians. Chapter 8. 1 Corinthians chapter
8. Yeah, I tell you, we are of the
earth, how limited we are in our knowledge. 1 Corinthians
8 verse 1. Now it's touching things offered
unto idols. We know that we all have knowledge,
but knowledge puffeth up. But charity, love, edifies. And
if any man thinks he knows anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he
ought to know. We don't know much, do we? In fact, I see through a glass
dimly. I know in part. I prophesy in
part. But now wait a minute. Listen.
Go back to the text, John 3. But he that cometh from above,
from heaven, is above all. And verse 32 says, and what he
hath seen and heard, that's what he speaks. That's Christ our
Lord. And no man receives his testimony.
Christ said, let another come in his own name, men will receive
him. But I come in my Father's name and they receive me not.
He was in the world and the world was made by him and the world
didn't know him. He came in his own, his own didn't know him,
didn't receive him. But I tell you this, verse 33, he that is
anointed of God, born of God, called of God, quickened of God,
he that will, little flock, receive his testimony, Christ's testimony,
Christ's Word, the man that does, hath set to his seal that God
is true. What's that mean, hath set to
his seal? Christ came from heaven, he speaks
of the Father. Words that I speak are not my
words, they're words of him that sent me. Most people won't hear
his words, won't believe him. But the man that will, and I'm
one of those, unashamedly, I believe Christ, I believe his words.
And the man that does hear him, and you are, some of you are,
has set to his seal that God is true. What that means is this. to set to his seal is to certify,
to ratify. In other words, those who believe
Christ declare that God has appointed him, God has sent him, and God
in Christ has reconciled the world to himself, and God in
Christ has fulfilled all that God promised through Christ our
Messiah. And I approve Ratify, certify,
agree. 100%. Now watch verse 34. For he whom God hath sent speaketh
the words of God. For God giveth not the Spirit
by measure unto him. I turn to John 6. John chapter
6, verse 27. John 6, 27. John 6, 27, listen, "...labor
not for the meat that perisheth, but for that meat which endureth
unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto
you. For him hath God the Father sealed,
set to his seal, certified, and ratified." That's what I'm saying. Him whom God has sent, God certified,
God anointed, God sent, God approved. And by faith, we're saying that
same thing. I approve. One thousand percent. Look at verse 35. Now I'll move
quickly and quick. The father loves the son, and
he hath given all things into his hand. This is John still
speaking. The father loves the son. I know
the preachers now get on the television and say, now God,
indiscriminately to all human beings, God loves you, and so
do I. John didn't say that. John said
this, I know. The Father loves the Son. That's
who the Father loves. And if you're in the Son, that
next verse tells you about something you have. And he that believeth
on the Son hath everlasting life. See, the Father loves the Son,
and it's given... I'll say that to the TV audience,
to every man, anywhere. I'll say this. You want me to
preach on the love, the indescribable, undefinable, unspeakable love
of God? He loves the Son, and hath given
all things into his hand. Now, if you believe on the Son, if you receive the Son, then
you have everlasting life, and you have the love of God. But,
he that believeth not the Son, come on now, He that believeth
not the Son shall never see life. If God doesn't love him, the
wrath of God abideth on him." That's pretty clear, isn't it,
Charlie? That's John talking. That's the man of whom the Lord
said, no greater man ever lived. There's his words. I'm of the
earth, earthy. I must decrease. What happens
to me doesn't matter, but he must increase.

He Must Increase - I Must Decrease

What does the Bible say about the authority of Christ's servants?

Why is immersion important in baptism?

How do we know that Jesus is the bridegroom?

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He Must Increase - I Must Decrease

What does the Bible say about the authority of Christ's servants?

Why is immersion important in baptism?

How do we know that Jesus is the bridegroom?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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