WEBVTT 00:00:00.200 --> 00:00:02.600 and he's been baptized and God's really been 00:00:02.600 --> 00:00:06.059 working in his life and one invite did really 00:00:06.059 --> 00:00:08.759 impact him and who's grateful that Matt got saved? 00:00:09.039 --> 00:00:12.500 I'm so grateful for that. And we are encouraging 00:00:12.500 --> 00:00:17.359 everybody to invite because Easter's a time where 00:00:17.359 --> 00:00:21.519 people respond and it's also, this is not about 00:00:21.519 --> 00:00:23.500 attendance except that every person that comes 00:00:23.500 --> 00:00:26.519 will hear the gospel, amen. And so that's what 00:00:26.519 --> 00:00:29.920 we're. looking at today. If you had your Bibles, 00:00:30.280 --> 00:00:32.159 we're going to be no surprise in John chapter 00:00:32.159 --> 00:00:34.899 number three. John chapter number three, and 00:00:34.899 --> 00:00:37.179 today we're looking at verses 22 to 36. It was 00:00:37.179 --> 00:00:41.039 our reading today. And one of the things that 00:00:41.039 --> 00:00:46.000 I'm experiencing right now is I'm getting older. 00:00:46.159 --> 00:00:50.100 I feel older. This week, my son turned 10 years 00:00:50.100 --> 00:00:54.340 old. So he's excited because double digits, right? 00:00:55.609 --> 00:00:57.789 So we had a blast this week hanging out with 00:00:57.789 --> 00:01:01.229 him yesterday. He's kind of an old soul. I got 00:01:01.229 --> 00:01:05.230 him a pocket knife, which was awesome. And within 00:01:05.230 --> 00:01:07.209 five minutes, Band -Aid's on the finger. It was 00:01:07.209 --> 00:01:12.629 great. And so further pastoral and fatherly instruction 00:01:12.629 --> 00:01:18.290 needed to happen. But also, he wanted to play, 00:01:18.290 --> 00:01:21.489 of all things, Monopoly. Last night, so we played 00:01:21.489 --> 00:01:24.549 Monopoly and of course Monopoly on a Saturday 00:01:24.549 --> 00:01:27.829 night for a pastor on time change Sunday We cut 00:01:27.829 --> 00:01:30.870 it off early, right? I'm not gonna brag, but 00:01:30.870 --> 00:01:34.530 I was winning but anyway, um John John chapter 00:01:34.530 --> 00:01:36.310 3 is gonna be but as I'm getting older one of 00:01:36.310 --> 00:01:39.849 the things I'm noticing is about my my life is 00:01:39.849 --> 00:01:42.390 that Sometimes there's now aches and pains that 00:01:42.390 --> 00:01:43.969 I didn't used to have right. I'm getting a little 00:01:43.969 --> 00:01:45.969 bit older I want you to imagine something with 00:01:45.969 --> 00:01:49.349 me. Imagine imagine that you have a pain somewhere 00:01:49.349 --> 00:01:51.129 in your body. I know for some of you it's easier 00:01:51.129 --> 00:01:53.489 to imagine than others. But let's say you have 00:01:53.489 --> 00:01:55.629 this pain that's in your body and over weeks 00:01:55.629 --> 00:01:58.810 and weeks, just slightly, ever more, ever more, 00:01:58.829 --> 00:02:01.230 it gets more and more intense, more and more 00:02:01.230 --> 00:02:04.010 difficult. And it's like in a strange place on 00:02:04.010 --> 00:02:07.069 your body. I'll let you imagine where. But the 00:02:07.069 --> 00:02:09.949 point is it's getting worse and worse and worse. 00:02:10.050 --> 00:02:12.990 So it's not going away, right? And so what you 00:02:12.990 --> 00:02:15.810 decide to do is you decide to go to a doctor. 00:02:15.969 --> 00:02:18.960 And when you go to the doctor, Imagine this doctor, 00:02:18.979 --> 00:02:21.360 he runs through all the labs, all the tests. 00:02:22.300 --> 00:02:25.860 He has all the charts. He's done this CAT scan 00:02:25.860 --> 00:02:30.020 and the MRI and the, you know, the hearing test. 00:02:30.139 --> 00:02:32.000 Now you're doing all the tests, right? And he's 00:02:32.000 --> 00:02:35.159 got the charts in front of him. He sees the evidence. 00:02:35.439 --> 00:02:38.680 He's a good doctor. He actually sees something 00:02:38.680 --> 00:02:43.860 and it's not good. And he knows it's not good. 00:02:43.860 --> 00:02:46.759 He knows it's bad. He sees it. He knows it's 00:02:46.759 --> 00:02:51.120 bad. And so, but then let's imagine that his 00:02:51.120 --> 00:02:54.039 report is, you know, this guy's got a lot of 00:02:54.039 --> 00:02:57.520 negative things going on in his life. He needs 00:02:57.520 --> 00:03:02.099 a good report, not a bad report. Life is hard. 00:03:02.659 --> 00:03:04.620 This is gonna be hard for him. And if I tell 00:03:04.620 --> 00:03:08.539 him that he's got the tumor, he's got the spot, 00:03:08.620 --> 00:03:11.039 like he needs treatment, if I tell him that he's 00:03:11.039 --> 00:03:13.599 gonna be down, he's gonna be depressed, he's 00:03:13.599 --> 00:03:15.919 gonna be discouraged. So I know what I'm gonna 00:03:15.919 --> 00:03:20.900 do. So he comes in. And he says, your body is 00:03:20.900 --> 00:03:25.039 good. You got a good body. Your eyes see, your 00:03:25.039 --> 00:03:29.599 nose smells, your feet run. Sometimes your feet 00:03:29.599 --> 00:03:35.360 smell and your nose runs. Right? Most of your 00:03:35.360 --> 00:03:38.699 body's doing great. Like a lot of your body is 00:03:38.699 --> 00:03:40.199 doing great. It would be really negative for 00:03:40.199 --> 00:03:42.740 me to talk about the part that's not maybe doing 00:03:42.740 --> 00:03:45.340 as great, but you're doing great. Like, and so. 00:03:45.530 --> 00:03:47.949 The pain will subside if you just ignore it. 00:03:48.449 --> 00:03:51.830 And we'll just say it's all good. Now, is this 00:03:51.830 --> 00:03:59.210 a good scenario for you? No, because an inaccurate 00:03:59.210 --> 00:04:05.569 diagnosis is a bad diagnosis. Now, who agrees? 00:04:06.270 --> 00:04:09.469 You probably feel like getting a cancer diagnosis. 00:04:09.759 --> 00:04:12.439 or some disease diagnosis is also a bad, who 00:04:12.439 --> 00:04:15.340 likes bad diagnosis? I love cancer, give me some 00:04:15.340 --> 00:04:17.879 more cancer. Who likes that, right? Nobody likes 00:04:17.879 --> 00:04:20.800 that. But what would be worse than being told 00:04:20.800 --> 00:04:23.319 you have a disease is for somebody to know that 00:04:23.319 --> 00:04:28.000 you have a disease and not tell you. That would 00:04:28.000 --> 00:04:31.980 be rough. Last week I told you that it is important 00:04:31.980 --> 00:04:37.199 to face brutal realities. That ignoring something 00:04:37.199 --> 00:04:43.389 doesn't make it go And giving a good diagnosis 00:04:43.389 --> 00:04:46.790 when it isn't accurate may be pleasant in the 00:04:46.790 --> 00:04:50.449 moment, but that's deadly. And in fact, I would 00:04:50.449 --> 00:04:54.769 say that's evil. That's not bad practice. That's 00:04:54.769 --> 00:04:59.629 malpractice, right? There have been those in 00:04:59.629 --> 00:05:02.569 the past though that have pushed for the need 00:05:02.569 --> 00:05:05.949 for people to have a high self -esteem. You know 00:05:05.949 --> 00:05:08.009 what the problem with this kid is? He's got a 00:05:08.009 --> 00:05:11.660 low self -esteem. Okay, he's punching everybody. 00:05:11.660 --> 00:05:14.980 He's a bully. He eats whatever he wants He doesn't 00:05:14.980 --> 00:05:16.699 obey his parents, but his problem is he's got 00:05:16.699 --> 00:05:18.920 a high self -esteem or he's got low self -esteem 00:05:18.920 --> 00:05:21.759 He needs to have a high self -esteem. You know 00:05:21.759 --> 00:05:28.120 the problem is He's a bad kid Did you just say 00:05:28.120 --> 00:05:31.819 there's such a thing as a bad kid Yes, you know 00:05:31.819 --> 00:05:37.720 the Bible calls him a sinner a sinner and by 00:05:37.720 --> 00:05:41.959 the way We've all been bad kids. We're all sinners. 00:05:43.439 --> 00:05:46.399 Now I'm not saying that if a kid's always down 00:05:46.399 --> 00:05:49.620 on himself and thinking negatively, or any of 00:05:49.620 --> 00:05:53.019 us are always like that, sometimes that can be 00:05:53.019 --> 00:05:55.879 as much pride as thinking too much of yourself, 00:05:56.019 --> 00:05:57.379 that you're thinking of yourself too much in 00:05:57.379 --> 00:06:00.620 that sense. The issue though is that some would 00:06:00.620 --> 00:06:03.209 say, is that people nowadays have a low self 00:06:03.209 --> 00:06:06.009 -esteem. The answer is a high self -esteem, yet 00:06:06.009 --> 00:06:08.709 this is not good. One of the most difficult things 00:06:08.709 --> 00:06:12.949 to get right about ourselves is thinking about 00:06:12.949 --> 00:06:17.269 ourselves. If we think about ourselves too much, 00:06:17.629 --> 00:06:20.470 that's pride, that can lead to selfishness, that 00:06:20.470 --> 00:06:23.970 can lead to self -centeredness. If we think pessimistically 00:06:23.970 --> 00:06:26.850 about ourselves, I'm the worst, I have no worth, 00:06:27.170 --> 00:06:29.850 this is not entirely accurate either. What's 00:06:29.850 --> 00:06:33.430 important is having an accurate esteem of yourself. 00:06:35.389 --> 00:06:38.029 Thinking about ourselves rightly. We can only 00:06:38.029 --> 00:06:40.189 think about ourselves rightly and here's the 00:06:40.189 --> 00:06:44.050 key. We can only really truly think about ourselves 00:06:44.050 --> 00:06:47.709 rightly when we have God's perspective on us. 00:06:48.810 --> 00:06:52.329 When we think like God. Repentance is agreeing 00:06:52.329 --> 00:06:56.759 with God about what he agrees with. about my 00:06:56.759 --> 00:07:00.759 life, seeing my life the way that God sees my 00:07:00.759 --> 00:07:04.160 life, seeing myself as God sees me. And this 00:07:04.160 --> 00:07:06.240 is one of the reasons that the most important 00:07:06.240 --> 00:07:09.100 thoughts we have are what we think about when 00:07:09.100 --> 00:07:11.399 we think about God, because how we think about 00:07:11.399 --> 00:07:14.259 God impacts how we think about everything else, 00:07:14.399 --> 00:07:20.209 including us, ourselves. How we think about God 00:07:20.209 --> 00:07:22.610 impacts for right or wrong, how we think about 00:07:22.610 --> 00:07:25.149 everything, especially ourselves. And we see 00:07:25.149 --> 00:07:29.350 that in today's text. For context though, and 00:07:29.350 --> 00:07:31.889 before I give you the objective, I'm gonna walk 00:07:31.889 --> 00:07:34.370 through to give you what's happening in the text. 00:07:35.730 --> 00:07:38.050 Jesus and his disciples continue to minister. 00:07:39.829 --> 00:07:41.709 The last two weeks, we went through the first 00:07:41.709 --> 00:07:43.529 part of John chapter three. As we walk through 00:07:43.529 --> 00:07:45.670 the whole book of John, it's pretty fun, it's 00:07:45.670 --> 00:07:50.100 exciting. Last week, we had this really intense 00:07:50.100 --> 00:07:53.740 conversation that Jesus has with Nicodemus about 00:07:53.740 --> 00:07:56.500 what it means to be born again. And Jesus told 00:07:56.500 --> 00:08:00.860 him, what Jesus says, as the serpent was raised 00:08:00.860 --> 00:08:03.100 up in the wilderness, even so must the son of 00:08:03.100 --> 00:08:07.399 man be lifted up. Moses had this problem in the 00:08:07.399 --> 00:08:08.660 wilderness with the children of Israel. They're 00:08:08.660 --> 00:08:11.339 grumbling and complaining. God sends poisonous 00:08:11.339 --> 00:08:14.259 snakes. They start biting the people. Matt, you 00:08:14.259 --> 00:08:18.420 sat in the same spot. I'm not doing it to you, 00:08:18.519 --> 00:08:20.660 okay? Yeah, feeling freaked out a little bit. 00:08:21.040 --> 00:08:25.959 But the snakes were biting and killing people, 00:08:26.100 --> 00:08:30.420 like the poison was in their veins. God, he goes 00:08:30.420 --> 00:08:32.799 to Moses, Moses goes to God, he says, God, what 00:08:32.799 --> 00:08:36.000 do I do about this? Moses, he tells Moses, hey, 00:08:36.139 --> 00:08:39.039 put a serpent up in the midst of the camp. And 00:08:39.039 --> 00:08:44.399 when people look at the, they're gonna attack 00:08:44.399 --> 00:08:49.149 me, okay. Just got baptized and now he's mad 00:08:49.149 --> 00:08:54.730 about it. Okay. So Moses puts his serpent up 00:08:54.730 --> 00:08:57.330 on a pole. He makes it out of a bronze serpent. 00:08:57.470 --> 00:08:59.769 And when the people got bit, they looked to the 00:08:59.769 --> 00:09:02.850 bronze serpent and they lived, look and live. 00:09:02.950 --> 00:09:04.909 And Jesus says, I'm gonna be like that brass 00:09:04.909 --> 00:09:07.870 serpent. I'm gonna be lifted up. And as he was 00:09:07.870 --> 00:09:09.090 in the wilderness, as the snake was raised in 00:09:09.090 --> 00:09:10.909 the wilderness, the son of man is gonna be lifted 00:09:10.909 --> 00:09:13.409 up that whosoever believeth on him should not 00:09:13.409 --> 00:09:16.690 perish. but have everlasting life. He said, he 00:09:16.690 --> 00:09:19.490 who does not believe, or he who believes is not 00:09:19.490 --> 00:09:22.889 condemned. But he who does not believe is condemned 00:09:22.889 --> 00:09:28.470 already. Meaning, everyone is condemned. The 00:09:28.470 --> 00:09:31.529 venom of sin, death because of sin is running 00:09:31.529 --> 00:09:34.889 through our veins. And he who does not believe, 00:09:35.710 --> 00:09:37.950 you're rejecting the only thing that's gonna 00:09:37.950 --> 00:09:40.330 get rid of the venom. That's gonna deal with 00:09:40.330 --> 00:09:43.809 death. And so, so. for God loved the world so 00:09:43.809 --> 00:09:46.110 much, for God so loved the world, that he gave 00:09:46.110 --> 00:09:48.950 his only begotten son that whosoever believeth 00:09:48.950 --> 00:09:53.509 in him, whoever looks to him, should not perish, 00:09:54.190 --> 00:09:58.730 but have everlasting life. So the conversation 00:09:58.730 --> 00:10:01.070 leaves that, but that subject is still kind of 00:10:01.070 --> 00:10:04.750 in the air. And Jesus goes in verse 22, read 00:10:04.750 --> 00:10:07.429 with me. After these things came Jesus and his 00:10:07.429 --> 00:10:10.230 disciples into the land of Judah, and there he 00:10:10.230 --> 00:10:13.470 tarried with them and baptized. We learn in John 00:10:13.470 --> 00:10:17.450 chapter four that Jesus, he baptized in the sense 00:10:17.450 --> 00:10:20.850 that his disciples are baptizing, right? Verse 00:10:20.850 --> 00:10:24.490 23, and John also was baptizing in and on near 00:10:24.490 --> 00:10:28.570 to Salem because there was much water there. 00:10:28.649 --> 00:10:32.110 Now I wouldn't be very Baptist if I didn't say, 00:10:32.570 --> 00:10:35.529 and also biblical, that you need much water when 00:10:35.529 --> 00:10:39.809 you baptize by immersion, right? The word baptize 00:10:39.809 --> 00:10:43.769 means immerse, baptizo to immerse, right? It 00:10:43.769 --> 00:10:47.049 became religious as we use that word, we took 00:10:47.049 --> 00:10:50.549 it from the Greek and just made it English, baptize. 00:10:51.450 --> 00:10:53.590 But the Greeks would have used that just meaning 00:10:53.590 --> 00:10:55.789 to plunge something in the water. A mama could 00:10:55.789 --> 00:10:58.529 have said to a Greek little girl, hey, go baptize 00:10:58.529 --> 00:11:01.769 this towel in the river. And she wouldn't be 00:11:01.769 --> 00:11:05.460 talking about, you know. She wouldn't be talking 00:11:05.460 --> 00:11:07.820 about that. She'd be talking about taking this 00:11:07.820 --> 00:11:10.779 and plunging it into the river, right? So baptized 00:11:10.779 --> 00:11:13.899 means that. And so Jesus is baptizing and making 00:11:13.899 --> 00:11:16.659 disciples of himself and John had already been 00:11:16.659 --> 00:11:19.139 doing that. Remember, this is John the Baptist. 00:11:20.580 --> 00:11:25.220 Makes sense, right? And so Jesus is coming near 00:11:25.220 --> 00:11:27.899 him and it says in verse 24, there's this explanation 00:11:27.899 --> 00:11:32.259 for John was not yet cast into prison. That's 00:11:32.259 --> 00:11:35.200 something that's gonna be coming later. And so 00:11:35.200 --> 00:11:38.080 you have these two kind of groups of people, 00:11:38.080 --> 00:11:40.899 Jesus and his disciples, made up of some of John 00:11:40.899 --> 00:11:42.580 the Baptist's disciples who started to follow 00:11:42.580 --> 00:11:45.340 Jesus, if you remember. And then John the Baptist, 00:11:45.460 --> 00:11:48.179 who still got his remnant of disciples and they're 00:11:48.179 --> 00:11:51.559 both doing similar things, they're both baptizing. 00:11:52.379 --> 00:11:55.899 And so there comes, in verse 25, a question. 00:11:56.620 --> 00:12:00.120 The word for question here, if you go look at 00:12:00.120 --> 00:12:02.830 the Greek, is kind of the idea of, a question 00:12:02.830 --> 00:12:05.470 in the way that people ask questions and take 00:12:05.470 --> 00:12:08.950 sides on a matter, like a dispute. There are 00:12:08.950 --> 00:12:10.649 people who are pro -choice and pro -life. There 00:12:10.649 --> 00:12:13.429 are people who are anti -gun and pro -second 00:12:13.429 --> 00:12:17.389 amendment. It's a question, it's a debate. You 00:12:17.389 --> 00:12:21.269 get it? And so that's what's happening. There 00:12:21.269 --> 00:12:23.210 was a question between some of John's disciples 00:12:23.210 --> 00:12:27.990 and the Jews about purifying. So the disciples 00:12:27.990 --> 00:12:31.490 of John the Baptist are responding. to some changing 00:12:31.490 --> 00:12:33.970 dynamics around the ministry of the man that 00:12:33.970 --> 00:12:36.389 they're following, John the Baptist, that apparently 00:12:36.389 --> 00:12:38.110 made them feel threatened, at least it seems 00:12:38.110 --> 00:12:40.269 that way. Those dynamics were this, that Jesus 00:12:40.269 --> 00:12:43.309 and his disciples made their way down to Judea, 00:12:43.330 --> 00:12:45.230 which referred to the southern part of Israel, 00:12:46.009 --> 00:12:50.169 and they were both baptizing people. They noticed 00:12:50.169 --> 00:12:52.570 their comment here in verse 26 about Jesus and 00:12:52.570 --> 00:12:55.149 his ministry, verse 26, and they came unto John 00:12:55.149 --> 00:12:58.990 and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee 00:12:58.990 --> 00:13:03.159 beyond Jordan, He's referring to Jesus, to whom 00:13:03.159 --> 00:13:06.360 thou bearest witness. That's how we know it's 00:13:06.360 --> 00:13:09.820 Jesus, because what was John's ministry to point 00:13:09.820 --> 00:13:14.759 to Jesus, right? And they said, behold, the same 00:13:14.759 --> 00:13:20.200 this Jesus baptizes and all men come to him. 00:13:21.419 --> 00:13:26.340 So this is like saying, hey, I'm noticing our 00:13:26.340 --> 00:13:30.509 disciples and our crowds getting smaller. and 00:13:30.509 --> 00:13:34.070 his crowd and his disciples are getting bigger. 00:13:35.110 --> 00:13:38.750 You used to be the talk of the town and now he's 00:13:38.750 --> 00:13:41.830 the talk of the town. Are you with me? Do you 00:13:41.830 --> 00:13:44.809 get it? There's a new church plant and everybody's 00:13:44.809 --> 00:13:47.750 going to the new church plant. That's a silly 00:13:47.750 --> 00:13:50.230 application that's kind of the same thing, right? 00:13:50.370 --> 00:13:53.490 Kind of a similar thing. And so there's the second 00:13:53.490 --> 00:13:57.970 dynamic that. There were disputes between some 00:13:57.970 --> 00:14:04.169 of John's disciples and the Pharisees. Some commentators 00:14:04.169 --> 00:14:06.870 guess what the disputes about. Here it says the 00:14:06.870 --> 00:14:08.730 purifying, which may include questions about 00:14:08.730 --> 00:14:11.269 baptizing. We're not exactly sure, but if it 00:14:11.269 --> 00:14:13.110 was about baptism, it may have included stuff 00:14:13.110 --> 00:14:16.269 like, was the baptism of John legitimate? We 00:14:16.269 --> 00:14:18.750 know that that question comes up later. Was the 00:14:18.750 --> 00:14:21.399 baptize of... Baptism of Jesus, the same as John. 00:14:21.759 --> 00:14:23.799 Was John a legitimate spiritual leader even though 00:14:23.799 --> 00:14:26.139 he wasn't a Pharisee, a priest, or some traditional 00:14:26.139 --> 00:14:29.820 rabbi? Who's greater, John or Jesus? Like this 00:14:29.820 --> 00:14:32.620 is the kind of thing that could be happening. 00:14:33.840 --> 00:14:35.740 It seems to me that the context here is that 00:14:35.740 --> 00:14:37.659 the disciples of John were worried about what 00:14:37.659 --> 00:14:40.399 seemed to be the declining influence of who they 00:14:40.399 --> 00:14:43.259 were following, John the Baptist. And so John 00:14:43.259 --> 00:14:46.440 hears all of these comments coming from his followers 00:14:46.440 --> 00:14:50.620 and seems to understand the assignment. because 00:14:50.620 --> 00:14:54.919 it says in verse number 27, John, what's the 00:14:54.919 --> 00:14:58.120 next word? Answered and said, now interesting, 00:14:58.580 --> 00:15:02.799 notice they didn't actually say a question, right? 00:15:03.220 --> 00:15:08.480 What did they say? Hey John, the guy you pointed 00:15:08.480 --> 00:15:12.559 to, his ministry is increasing, he's baptizing, 00:15:12.679 --> 00:15:15.679 everybody's going to him. Is that a question 00:15:15.679 --> 00:15:19.450 or a statement? Just a statement. But I think 00:15:19.450 --> 00:15:22.350 John knows what they're getting at, like, huh, 00:15:22.649 --> 00:15:29.370 huh, huh, huh. There's less over here, what's 00:15:29.370 --> 00:15:34.009 going on, right? And I love that John answers. 00:15:35.330 --> 00:15:37.809 John sees himself rightly, I think that's really 00:15:37.809 --> 00:15:42.950 cool. They were wondering about how John was 00:15:42.950 --> 00:15:44.789 feeling about that. They seemed to be worried 00:15:44.789 --> 00:15:47.330 about how successful John's ministry will be 00:15:47.330 --> 00:15:49.779 and how. He is being perceived in comparison 00:15:49.779 --> 00:15:52.480 to Christ. And John's response is profound. Look 00:15:52.480 --> 00:15:58.539 at verse 27. John answered and said, a man can 00:15:58.539 --> 00:16:03.379 receive nothing except to be given him from heaven. 00:16:04.379 --> 00:16:07.480 What's he saying? Here's what he's saying. Jesus' 00:16:07.620 --> 00:16:10.019 success is happening because God is allowing 00:16:10.019 --> 00:16:13.120 it to happen. What's happening with Jesus is 00:16:13.120 --> 00:16:18.429 of God. This is all part of God's plan. He then 00:16:18.429 --> 00:16:20.649 reminds him of what he had said about Jesus earlier. 00:16:20.690 --> 00:16:24.009 Look at verse 28. Ye yourselves bear me witness. 00:16:24.049 --> 00:16:26.970 And he's like, you brought it up when you didn't 00:16:26.970 --> 00:16:28.769 ask the question, but when you referred to the 00:16:28.769 --> 00:16:31.110 statement. The one you pointed to, the one you 00:16:31.110 --> 00:16:32.990 magnified. Isn't that what he said in verse, 00:16:33.090 --> 00:16:37.769 where are we at? Yeah, 28. We're in 28, but he 00:16:37.769 --> 00:16:43.230 says in verse 26, Rabbi, he that was with thee 00:16:43.230 --> 00:16:46.129 beyond Jordan, to whom thou bearest witness. 00:16:46.490 --> 00:16:49.269 He's saying, You are bearing witness that I bore 00:16:49.269 --> 00:16:53.730 witness about Jesus that I said, I'm not the 00:16:53.730 --> 00:16:56.950 Christ. Christ is a Greek word that means anointed 00:16:56.950 --> 00:16:58.850 one. It's the equivalent of the Hebrew word for 00:16:58.850 --> 00:17:02.570 Messiah. Okay, so he's saying, I told you from 00:17:02.570 --> 00:17:04.230 the beginning, I've always said, this has been 00:17:04.230 --> 00:17:08.410 my ministry, I'm not the Messiah. But that I 00:17:08.410 --> 00:17:13.369 am sent before him, before the Messiah, right? 00:17:14.150 --> 00:17:17.349 This is all. part of the plan of God. John knew 00:17:17.349 --> 00:17:20.349 that Christ's value is greater than his value 00:17:20.349 --> 00:17:22.869 and that he was sent to point to Christ. And 00:17:22.869 --> 00:17:25.849 so then he uses this amazing illustration that 00:17:25.849 --> 00:17:28.170 I like so much, verse 29, about a wedding, verse 00:17:28.170 --> 00:17:32.750 29. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom, 00:17:32.990 --> 00:17:35.569 but the friend of the bridegroom which standeth 00:17:35.569 --> 00:17:37.789 and heareth him rejoiceth greatly because the 00:17:37.789 --> 00:17:42.490 bridegroom's voice, this my joy therefore is 00:17:42.490 --> 00:17:46.009 fulfilled. That's a pretty cool illustration, 00:17:46.089 --> 00:17:49.990 isn't it? He's saying, I want you guys to imagine 00:17:49.990 --> 00:17:54.369 this. Before, in my life, I've been in a bunch 00:17:54.369 --> 00:17:56.690 of different weddings. In college, I think I 00:17:56.690 --> 00:17:59.829 was in like eight or nine or 10 different weddings. 00:18:00.569 --> 00:18:02.289 I become friends with a lot of people that end 00:18:02.289 --> 00:18:05.910 up getting married, right? And I was a groomsman 00:18:05.910 --> 00:18:08.529 in a lot of weddings. And you know what the job 00:18:08.529 --> 00:18:12.150 of a groomsman is to do? Is basically to be like, 00:18:12.430 --> 00:18:17.119 to be there, to stand by your groom and to be 00:18:17.119 --> 00:18:21.759 happy for him and don't mess up. Don't trip, 00:18:21.980 --> 00:18:25.740 don't make a scene. The point of the groomsman 00:18:25.740 --> 00:18:30.220 in some ways is to point to the groom. Are you 00:18:30.220 --> 00:18:33.380 with me? And what he's saying is, I'm not the 00:18:33.380 --> 00:18:36.619 main player here, I'm over here off to the side. 00:18:37.440 --> 00:18:41.720 I'm not the main character, he's the main character. 00:18:42.339 --> 00:18:45.900 Are you with me? He says, at a party, you're 00:18:45.900 --> 00:18:48.500 not upset when you're a groomsman, you're not 00:18:48.500 --> 00:18:51.420 upset when the focus is on the groom. In fact, 00:18:51.440 --> 00:18:53.440 you know you're messing up if the focus is on 00:18:53.440 --> 00:18:57.279 you, right? You're just there to be happy for 00:18:57.279 --> 00:19:01.619 the groom and to be happy for the bride. I love 00:19:01.619 --> 00:19:05.779 that picture. When someone's in the bridal party 00:19:05.779 --> 00:19:08.460 or attending the wedding, jealousy and envy are 00:19:08.460 --> 00:19:11.380 not the right attitude. The right attitude is, 00:19:11.559 --> 00:19:14.079 for the inevitable culmination of the marriage. 00:19:15.160 --> 00:19:19.019 Joy at that. And John is saying that Jesus' prominence 00:19:19.019 --> 00:19:21.099 is the point of his own ministry and in that 00:19:21.099 --> 00:19:23.660 he is joyful like the groomsmen for the bridegroom. 00:19:24.440 --> 00:19:27.599 This is summarized by the most well -known verse 00:19:27.599 --> 00:19:33.200 in the passage where he says, verse 30, he must 00:19:33.200 --> 00:19:41.289 increase, but I must decrease. What God wants 00:19:41.289 --> 00:19:45.809 is for me to play a lesser part because Jesus 00:19:45.809 --> 00:19:52.269 is playing the main part. When John says that, 00:19:52.549 --> 00:19:54.670 he's saying something very specific about his 00:19:54.670 --> 00:19:57.309 ministry. Once the person that announces the 00:19:57.309 --> 00:20:00.289 main act is done, he moves off the stage. The 00:20:00.289 --> 00:20:03.029 focus is now on the main player. And that has 00:20:03.029 --> 00:20:05.430 some very specific implications for John the 00:20:05.430 --> 00:20:08.089 Baptist. Now here's what I wanna tell us. What's 00:20:08.089 --> 00:20:10.480 the point of this? in terms of how this applies 00:20:10.480 --> 00:20:14.460 to us. We ought to be like John in this story. 00:20:15.579 --> 00:20:18.980 Why? Those of us who know Christ as Savior have 00:20:18.980 --> 00:20:21.960 one job when we're on this earth. That's priority 00:20:21.960 --> 00:20:26.460 over every other job that we have. We sang a 00:20:26.460 --> 00:20:33.440 song, Christ be magnified in me. We lift up not 00:20:33.440 --> 00:20:37.059 ourselves, we lift up who? Jesus, we point people 00:20:37.059 --> 00:20:41.220 to. Jesus, he's the main player. We're called 00:20:41.220 --> 00:20:44.559 by God as Christ's disciples to point in every 00:20:44.559 --> 00:20:49.099 way we can to Jesus. John the Baptist came to 00:20:49.099 --> 00:20:51.319 prepare the way of the Messiah. We're to point 00:20:51.319 --> 00:20:54.079 people to the Messiah. In the midst of that, 00:20:54.079 --> 00:20:57.720 we can get distracted by a lot of stuff. Sometimes 00:20:57.720 --> 00:21:00.579 we get distracted from it completely. Sometimes 00:21:00.579 --> 00:21:03.799 we think too highly of ourselves and of our own 00:21:03.799 --> 00:21:06.019 ministry. Sometimes we think only of ourselves. 00:21:06.380 --> 00:21:08.880 And we all think about ministry. Sometimes we 00:21:08.880 --> 00:21:11.440 have too low a view of ourselves and the importance 00:21:11.440 --> 00:21:14.299 of our ministry in terms of what obedience means. 00:21:14.940 --> 00:21:17.619 Sometimes we can believe that we're in control 00:21:17.619 --> 00:21:19.579 and it's all up to us. And really, who's it all 00:21:19.579 --> 00:21:22.019 up to? And we're supposed to be obedient, but 00:21:22.019 --> 00:21:24.579 it's really up to the Lord. John understands 00:21:24.579 --> 00:21:28.619 that in this moment, Jesus' prominence must be 00:21:28.619 --> 00:21:33.299 by necessity increasing while his role decreases. 00:21:33.339 --> 00:21:36.549 And that is an application for us as well. which 00:21:36.549 --> 00:21:38.650 introduces us to the main point of this sermon. 00:21:39.069 --> 00:21:42.730 Are you ready? We can have an accurate view of 00:21:42.730 --> 00:21:45.569 our own self -worth by valuing three aspects 00:21:45.569 --> 00:21:49.349 of the worth of Jesus Christ. There's three aspects 00:21:49.349 --> 00:21:53.589 of his worth here that need to color and shape 00:21:53.589 --> 00:21:55.329 and influence the way we think about ourselves. 00:21:55.630 --> 00:21:59.269 Here's the first one, his value. He is greater 00:21:59.269 --> 00:22:03.359 than me. He is greater than me. You're like, 00:22:03.500 --> 00:22:04.940 Pastor Ben, you're saying something obvious. 00:22:05.359 --> 00:22:07.859 I understand that it's obvious, but I don't always 00:22:07.859 --> 00:22:13.200 live that way. And neither do you. Sometimes 00:22:13.200 --> 00:22:15.640 in your life, it probably happened this week, 00:22:16.400 --> 00:22:18.700 in the way that you lived and the way that you 00:22:18.700 --> 00:22:21.200 thought you were the most important, not Christ. 00:22:22.279 --> 00:22:26.559 And what we have to do is we have to understand 00:22:26.559 --> 00:22:30.809 that he is number one. In a sense, John was being 00:22:30.809 --> 00:22:33.109 asked to compare his ministry with Jesus' ministry. 00:22:33.190 --> 00:22:35.130 And we get asked to compare ourselves to others 00:22:35.130 --> 00:22:38.130 too. Women can be tempted to compare themselves 00:22:38.130 --> 00:22:41.289 to the fake models on the covers of magazines 00:22:41.289 --> 00:22:44.509 and on Instagram. Sometimes we compare our lives 00:22:44.509 --> 00:22:47.390 to the postings of other people on social media. 00:22:47.450 --> 00:22:50.009 We compare our wealth and our cars and our clothes 00:22:50.009 --> 00:22:53.339 to others. And if you think it doesn't affect 00:22:53.339 --> 00:22:55.400 ministry leaders and pastors, you're wrong. People 00:22:55.400 --> 00:22:58.140 get sized up based on the size of their attendance, 00:22:58.299 --> 00:23:00.880 the size of their staff, the size of their budget. 00:23:01.099 --> 00:23:04.799 And in the end, there is no win in comparison. 00:23:05.900 --> 00:23:08.240 Let me say that again. In the end, there's no 00:23:08.240 --> 00:23:10.880 win in comparison. Because you can always find 00:23:10.880 --> 00:23:12.799 somebody doing something better than you, and 00:23:12.799 --> 00:23:14.839 you can always find somebody doing something 00:23:14.839 --> 00:23:17.960 worse than you. And that's not how God measures 00:23:17.960 --> 00:23:21.569 it anyway. It's required in stewards that a man 00:23:21.569 --> 00:23:26.710 be found faithful. Comparison can be something 00:23:26.710 --> 00:23:29.269 that robs us of joy, can motivate us towards 00:23:29.269 --> 00:23:32.990 unfaithfulness to the Lord. Success is an interesting 00:23:32.990 --> 00:23:35.609 concept. On the one hand, stewardship compels 00:23:35.609 --> 00:23:39.730 us to measure impact. We want the growth charts 00:23:39.730 --> 00:23:43.450 to go up and to the right, right? We want our 00:23:43.450 --> 00:23:45.250 wealth to go up and to the right on the chart. 00:23:45.329 --> 00:23:48.670 Like we always want it to go. that way, we always 00:23:48.670 --> 00:23:50.529 want more this year than last year, yet there 00:23:50.529 --> 00:23:53.569 are times where being faithful to God means that 00:23:53.569 --> 00:23:57.769 there will be a decrease in impact. Are you serious? 00:23:58.089 --> 00:24:06.289 Yeah. Just because, the Bible describes sometimes 00:24:06.289 --> 00:24:10.930 riches as a curse, not a blessing. And there 00:24:10.930 --> 00:24:12.670 are ministries that have more people and the 00:24:12.670 --> 00:24:14.089 reason they have more people is because they're 00:24:14.089 --> 00:24:19.819 being unfaithful. Sometimes the reason the church 00:24:19.819 --> 00:24:23.519 is decreasing is because it's being faithful. 00:24:26.480 --> 00:24:27.779 Sometimes it's decreasing because they're not 00:24:27.779 --> 00:24:33.019 doing evangelism. The point is success should 00:24:33.019 --> 00:24:35.160 be measured in faithfulness to the Lord and not 00:24:35.160 --> 00:24:39.859 in comparison to other people. John here gives 00:24:39.859 --> 00:24:42.779 an incredible insight to that. In this example, 00:24:42.859 --> 00:24:47.180 Jesus is greater than we are. His success and 00:24:47.180 --> 00:24:49.440 prominence is more important than ours, yet there 00:24:49.440 --> 00:24:51.640 is an incredible connection between his success 00:24:51.640 --> 00:24:54.339 and our eternity. John's mission, like ours, 00:24:54.380 --> 00:24:56.880 was to announce the coming and arrival of Jesus 00:24:56.880 --> 00:24:59.460 Christ, the Messiah. Like it would be inappropriate 00:24:59.460 --> 00:25:01.859 for an attender or a groomsman at a wedding to 00:25:01.859 --> 00:25:04.019 try to take prominence over the groom, so it 00:25:04.019 --> 00:25:06.319 would be wrong for John to fight the focus and 00:25:06.319 --> 00:25:08.980 growing influence of Jesus. We're like that. 00:25:09.180 --> 00:25:13.259 We're to point people to Jesus. He's the main 00:25:13.259 --> 00:25:19.200 player. He is more valuable than me. He must 00:25:19.200 --> 00:25:25.779 increase and I must decrease. Now how do we know 00:25:25.779 --> 00:25:29.119 that Jesus is more valuable than us? That brings 00:25:29.119 --> 00:25:31.400 us to the second aspect of his worth that will 00:25:31.400 --> 00:25:33.859 help us accurately view our own worth. Number 00:25:33.859 --> 00:25:36.240 two is it's his experience. We talked about his 00:25:36.240 --> 00:25:38.339 value. He's greater than me. Now we're talking 00:25:38.339 --> 00:25:42.500 about his experience. He is from above. He's 00:25:42.500 --> 00:25:43.920 from above. We're getting this right from the 00:25:43.920 --> 00:25:47.660 text. Are you there? Verse 31. He that cometh 00:25:47.660 --> 00:25:53.579 from above is above all. Jesus isn't like a man 00:25:53.579 --> 00:25:56.799 that just came into existence and came from earth. 00:25:57.039 --> 00:26:02.380 Jesus is from heaven. Jesus' start wasn't at 00:26:02.380 --> 00:26:06.140 his conception. He existed from eternity past 00:26:06.140 --> 00:26:08.740 and he's saying here he that cometh from above 00:26:08.740 --> 00:26:11.799 is above all and he that is of earth is Earthly 00:26:11.799 --> 00:26:14.039 and speaking of the earth he that comes from 00:26:14.039 --> 00:26:18.180 heaven is above all Part of the way that we know 00:26:18.180 --> 00:26:20.079 to Christ value is greater than ours is because 00:26:20.079 --> 00:26:27.460 of where he comes from Right Mankind is of earth 00:26:27.460 --> 00:26:30.259 Jesus is from heaven God is from heaven. He's 00:26:30.259 --> 00:26:32.460 the creator and he's more valuable than his creation 00:26:33.319 --> 00:26:35.039 Don't I mean you can turn there if you want, 00:26:35.059 --> 00:26:36.680 but I'll be on the screen first Corinthians 15 00:26:36.680 --> 00:26:41.140 47 says this the first man is of earth of the 00:26:41.140 --> 00:26:45.619 earth earthy Now Paul uses this language first 00:26:45.619 --> 00:26:47.700 Corinthians was written by Paul Paul uses this 00:26:47.700 --> 00:26:50.579 language About the first Adam and the second 00:26:50.579 --> 00:26:52.559 Adam. He does that in Romans. He's speaking to 00:26:52.559 --> 00:26:56.380 it here again in first Corinthians The first 00:26:56.380 --> 00:27:01.059 man Adam the second Adam the second man is Jesus, 00:27:01.220 --> 00:27:05.019 okay, so I'll just give you that and won't prove 00:27:05.019 --> 00:27:06.259 it to you, but that's what he's talking about. 00:27:06.259 --> 00:27:09.240 And he says, the first man is of the earth, earthy. 00:27:09.720 --> 00:27:11.940 The second man is the Lord from heaven. As is 00:27:11.940 --> 00:27:15.220 the earthy, such are they also that are earthy. 00:27:15.480 --> 00:27:18.480 And as is the heavenly, such are they also that 00:27:18.480 --> 00:27:23.240 are heavenly. Jesus is heavenly. Man was made 00:27:23.240 --> 00:27:25.380 of the dust of the ground. Genesis 2 .7. And 00:27:25.380 --> 00:27:27.500 the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground 00:27:27.500 --> 00:27:29.259 and breathed into his nostrils the breath of 00:27:29.259 --> 00:27:32.740 life. The man became a living soul. Because of 00:27:32.740 --> 00:27:35.019 our sin, our physical bodies are buried and turned 00:27:35.019 --> 00:27:39.160 to dust awaiting the resurrection. Genesis 3 00:27:39.160 --> 00:27:42.480 .19 says, in the sweat of, this is part of the 00:27:42.480 --> 00:27:46.480 curse after man's sin, he gives this curse to 00:27:46.480 --> 00:27:48.519 man. He says, in the sweat of thy face shalt 00:27:48.519 --> 00:27:52.019 thou eat bread till thou return unto the ground. 00:27:52.319 --> 00:27:54.779 For out of it was thou taken, for dust thou art 00:27:54.779 --> 00:28:00.430 and unto dust thou shalt return. In verse 32, 00:28:00.569 --> 00:28:02.670 John goes on to say that because Jesus is from 00:28:02.670 --> 00:28:06.269 heaven, he speaks the words of heaven. So man 00:28:06.269 --> 00:28:08.930 is from earth, we're made of the stuff of earth, 00:28:09.150 --> 00:28:10.950 there's a part of us that will live forever, 00:28:11.349 --> 00:28:14.430 but we're different than Jesus because there 00:28:14.430 --> 00:28:16.410 wasn't beginning to us, there's no beginning 00:28:16.410 --> 00:28:21.009 to Jesus. Are you with me? There was a time when 00:28:21.009 --> 00:28:22.670 we are not, but there will never be a time where 00:28:22.670 --> 00:28:25.349 we will never be again. But there has never been 00:28:25.349 --> 00:28:30.230 a time where Jesus was not. I make your head 00:28:30.230 --> 00:28:37.750 spin. Jesus has always existed, right? If you 00:28:37.750 --> 00:28:40.410 don't believe that, you're not Christian. He's 00:28:40.410 --> 00:28:44.490 always existed. Or at least you're mistaken. 00:28:45.089 --> 00:28:51.740 Verse 33, sorry. Verse 32. And what he has seen 00:28:51.740 --> 00:28:54.059 and heard, that he testifies, and no man receiveth 00:28:54.059 --> 00:28:56.079 his testimony." This is talking about Jesus. 00:28:56.579 --> 00:28:59.180 Jesus' experience is in heaven, he's seen heaven, 00:28:59.200 --> 00:29:02.099 he's bringing heaven and the experience of that 00:29:02.099 --> 00:29:05.440 to earth. He's saying, he's saying Jesus is speaking 00:29:05.440 --> 00:29:07.539 what he knew from heaven and no one's receiving 00:29:07.539 --> 00:29:10.259 it. This is exactly like what we studied last 00:29:10.259 --> 00:29:13.160 week, John 3 .11, where Jesus said, verily, verily, 00:29:13.220 --> 00:29:15.660 I say unto thee, this is Jesus talking to Nicodemus, 00:29:16.500 --> 00:29:19.450 we speak that we do know and testify. that we 00:29:19.450 --> 00:29:22.809 have seen and ye receive not our witness." What 00:29:22.809 --> 00:29:26.289 Jesus is saying to John is, you're saying that 00:29:26.289 --> 00:29:33.210 I'm from God, right? Nicodemus came to Jesus 00:29:33.210 --> 00:29:36.829 and said, Jesus, we know that you're a rabbi 00:29:36.829 --> 00:29:38.609 come from God, because no one can do the things 00:29:38.609 --> 00:29:41.309 you're doing except God's with them. And Jesus 00:29:41.309 --> 00:29:43.809 ends up saying in the conversation, well, you're 00:29:43.809 --> 00:29:46.259 saying I'm from God. And I'm saying what I heard 00:29:46.259 --> 00:29:48.519 from God, I'm saying what I've seen, what my 00:29:48.519 --> 00:29:51.119 testimony is, and you're not receiving what I'm 00:29:51.119 --> 00:29:55.099 saying. Is that a problem? And John's having 00:29:55.099 --> 00:29:57.680 exactly the opposite effect here. He's saying, 00:29:58.500 --> 00:30:02.819 Jesus is greater, why? Because he's from heaven. 00:30:03.019 --> 00:30:05.640 He's not made, he's not from earth, he's from 00:30:05.640 --> 00:30:10.359 heaven. He's greater than we are. John the Baptist 00:30:10.359 --> 00:30:13.200 was making a case. Jesus' ministry must grow 00:30:13.200 --> 00:30:15.880 even at the expense of my own personal ministry. 00:30:16.180 --> 00:30:18.480 He says, because he's more valuable than I am, 00:30:18.740 --> 00:30:21.740 he is the focus. Why? His success is the intention 00:30:21.740 --> 00:30:24.400 of God. His success is the point of John's ministry. 00:30:24.680 --> 00:30:26.480 He's the bridegroom and John's just attending 00:30:26.480 --> 00:30:28.720 the wedding. He's from heaven and John is merely 00:30:28.720 --> 00:30:31.559 from earth. He testifies of heavenly things and 00:30:31.559 --> 00:30:34.500 John has only been on the earth. He goes on to 00:30:34.500 --> 00:30:37.220 say that there's a responsibility then to receive 00:30:37.220 --> 00:30:41.069 his testimony and result. for people based on 00:30:41.069 --> 00:30:44.250 how they respond to Jesus. Look at verse 33. 00:30:44.890 --> 00:30:49.109 He that hath received his testimony. This is 00:30:49.109 --> 00:30:51.630 what he's saying. John's saying, if you receive 00:30:51.630 --> 00:30:54.970 Jesus' testimony, you're setting to his seal 00:30:54.970 --> 00:30:58.450 that God is true. For he whom God hath sent speaketh 00:30:58.450 --> 00:31:03.549 the words of God. What's John saying? When Jesus 00:31:03.549 --> 00:31:07.539 speaks, he's speaking on behalf of God. For God 00:31:07.539 --> 00:31:10.220 giveth not the spirit by measure unto him." He's 00:31:10.220 --> 00:31:14.960 saying God's not limiting what effect of the 00:31:14.960 --> 00:31:17.299 Holy Spirit that Jesus is having. To believe 00:31:17.299 --> 00:31:19.539 Jesus is to believe God the Father himself because 00:31:19.539 --> 00:31:22.599 Jesus is God. That's what he's saying. Of course, 00:31:22.700 --> 00:31:25.299 John, the gospel writer, quotes John saying this 00:31:25.299 --> 00:31:27.960 right after having recorded Jesus' conversation 00:31:27.960 --> 00:31:31.859 with Nicodemus. John said that Jesus is the Logos, 00:31:31.859 --> 00:31:34.480 the Word. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among 00:31:34.480 --> 00:31:37.720 us and we beheld his glory. So what is my point? 00:31:37.779 --> 00:31:40.240 My point is, it's important to listen to Jesus 00:31:40.240 --> 00:31:44.140 because the incarnation of Jesus is the word 00:31:44.140 --> 00:31:47.279 made flesh and dwelling among us. He is the authoritative 00:31:47.279 --> 00:31:50.720 son of God who tells us the truth from heaven. 00:31:51.380 --> 00:31:54.119 Who has a right to say what happens in heaven? 00:31:55.079 --> 00:31:59.019 Jesus does. That's where he's from. Who has the 00:31:59.019 --> 00:32:01.400 right to tell us how we get to heaven? Jesus 00:32:01.400 --> 00:32:06.660 does. He came. brought the words of life to us. 00:32:06.720 --> 00:32:08.640 And then he died on the cross and rose again. 00:32:09.500 --> 00:32:12.140 He has a right. And so he's more valuable than 00:32:12.140 --> 00:32:15.480 us because of where he comes from. And we can 00:32:15.480 --> 00:32:17.359 have an accurate view of our own self -worth 00:32:17.359 --> 00:32:19.460 by valuing three aspects of the worth of Jesus 00:32:19.460 --> 00:32:23.019 Christ. Here's the last thing. His position is 00:32:23.019 --> 00:32:26.640 this, that he is supreme. His value is that he's 00:32:26.640 --> 00:32:28.380 greater than me. His experience is he's from 00:32:28.380 --> 00:32:32.480 above. His position is this, he is supreme. I 00:32:32.480 --> 00:32:37.140 love verse 35, I love this, ready? The father 00:32:37.140 --> 00:32:42.700 loveth the son and hath given all things into 00:32:42.700 --> 00:32:50.960 his hand. Isn't that amazing? While Jesus has 00:32:50.960 --> 00:32:53.740 been rejected by so many and received by so few, 00:32:54.119 --> 00:32:57.220 God the father has completely accepted his son. 00:32:58.909 --> 00:33:01.410 Here John makes a clear statement that Jesus 00:33:01.410 --> 00:33:03.990 has been given all things the whole of creation 00:33:03.990 --> 00:33:08.569 is Jesus is Jesus's everything is by him and 00:33:08.569 --> 00:33:11.769 For him and to him so when confronted with the 00:33:11.769 --> 00:33:14.009 success of Jesus's ministry John makes it clear 00:33:14.009 --> 00:33:16.750 that he understands Jesus supremacy over everything 00:33:16.750 --> 00:33:21.410 What he's saying is this is amazing Yeah, he 00:33:21.410 --> 00:33:24.609 gets more I get less. You know why everything 00:33:24.609 --> 00:33:29.019 is his to begin with It's all his God's given 00:33:29.019 --> 00:33:31.779 everything into his hand. He is supreme. The 00:33:31.779 --> 00:33:33.720 writer of Hebrews talks about that, Hebrews 2 00:33:33.720 --> 00:33:36.980 .7. Thou made us, Tim, a little lower than the 00:33:36.980 --> 00:33:40.700 angels in his incarnation. Thou crowned us, Tim, 00:33:40.700 --> 00:33:43.200 with glory and honor, and did set him over the 00:33:43.200 --> 00:33:45.220 works of thy hands. Thou hast put all things 00:33:45.220 --> 00:33:47.619 in subjection under his feet, for in that he 00:33:47.619 --> 00:33:50.579 put all in subjection under him. He left nothing 00:33:50.579 --> 00:33:53.359 that is not put under him. But now we see not 00:33:53.359 --> 00:33:56.920 yet all things put under him. Paul declares, 00:33:57.160 --> 00:33:59.140 that he wanted the Ephesian church to understand 00:33:59.140 --> 00:34:02.819 about Christ in Ephesians 1 .19, this reality. 00:34:03.160 --> 00:34:05.420 And what is, he says, I want you, this is my 00:34:05.420 --> 00:34:07.420 prayer for you, Ephesian church. This is what 00:34:07.420 --> 00:34:09.619 I want you to know. I want you to know what is 00:34:09.619 --> 00:34:11.639 the exceeding greatness of his power to us who 00:34:11.639 --> 00:34:13.960 believe according to the working of his mighty 00:34:13.960 --> 00:34:16.460 power, which he wrought in Christ when he raised 00:34:16.460 --> 00:34:18.619 him from the dead and set him at his own right 00:34:18.619 --> 00:34:20.019 hand in the heavenly places. You know what he's 00:34:20.019 --> 00:34:22.239 saying? He's saying the power that you have available 00:34:22.239 --> 00:34:24.860 to you in Christ is the same power that raised 00:34:24.860 --> 00:34:29.719 Jesus from the dead. And he says, verse 21, he 00:34:29.719 --> 00:34:31.920 set him at his own right hand in heavenly places. 00:34:32.000 --> 00:34:34.739 Verse 21, far above principality and power and 00:34:34.739 --> 00:34:36.679 might and dominion and every name that is named 00:34:36.679 --> 00:34:38.599 not only in this world, but also in that which 00:34:38.599 --> 00:34:41.280 is to come. You know what he says? There's nothing, 00:34:41.559 --> 00:34:43.739 there's no place where Jesus is not greater. 00:34:46.639 --> 00:34:48.820 Verse 22, I put all things under his feet and 00:34:48.820 --> 00:34:50.619 gave him to be the head over all things to the 00:34:50.619 --> 00:34:53.340 church, which is his body, the fullness of him 00:34:53.340 --> 00:34:58.480 that filleth all in all. In fact, John the Baptist 00:34:58.480 --> 00:35:03.360 goes on to say that every person's ultimate end 00:35:03.360 --> 00:35:07.500 is based on what they do with Jesus. If they 00:35:07.500 --> 00:35:11.000 believe on Jesus' life, if they reject Jesus, 00:35:11.000 --> 00:35:15.159 they will endure the wrath of God. Jesus says 00:35:15.159 --> 00:35:18.500 this about himself in John 14, six. Jesus said 00:35:18.500 --> 00:35:20.699 to them, I am the way, the truth, and the life. 00:35:21.880 --> 00:35:31.050 No man cometh unto the Father, but by. What was 00:35:31.050 --> 00:35:35.050 John's answer to Jesus? What was his answer to 00:35:35.050 --> 00:35:37.409 his success compared to his own? It should be 00:35:37.409 --> 00:35:41.409 the same as our answer about Jesus. It's not 00:35:41.409 --> 00:35:47.590 about me. It's not about us. It's all about him. 00:35:48.599 --> 00:35:52.659 He is greater than we are. He is from above. 00:35:52.840 --> 00:35:55.679 He made everything below. Everything is by Him 00:35:55.679 --> 00:35:58.860 and for Him. He is supreme. The only way to get 00:35:58.860 --> 00:36:01.079 to the Father is through the Son. God sending 00:36:01.079 --> 00:36:04.500 Jesus so that we could believe was an incredible 00:36:04.500 --> 00:36:06.780 act of love in response to this impossible and 00:36:06.780 --> 00:36:09.360 incredible state we find ourselves in as sinners 00:36:09.360 --> 00:36:12.519 and enemies of the Holy and Living God. And so 00:36:12.519 --> 00:36:17.979 that's why this passage ends with this. terrifying 00:36:17.979 --> 00:36:21.800 and terrible and incredible truth. Are you ready? 00:36:23.119 --> 00:36:26.360 This is so simple, but it's so profound. Verse 00:36:26.360 --> 00:36:31.260 36. He that believeth on the Son has everlasting 00:36:31.260 --> 00:36:36.159 life. And he that believeth not the Son shall 00:36:36.159 --> 00:36:43.960 not see life, but the wrath of God abideth. You 00:36:43.960 --> 00:36:49.110 know what abideth means? remains. It's already 00:36:49.110 --> 00:37:06.329 there. It's already there. Condemned already. 00:37:07.469 --> 00:37:12.250 It's the same theme. What you do with Jesus, 00:37:13.429 --> 00:37:18.230 is the most important decision you could make. 00:37:20.130 --> 00:37:24.409 Isn't who you marry important? Yeah, not as important 00:37:24.409 --> 00:37:28.510 as this. What about what I do for a job? Is that 00:37:28.510 --> 00:37:34.050 important? It's important. Is it more important 00:37:34.050 --> 00:37:39.429 than what you do with Jesus? Not a chance. He 00:37:39.429 --> 00:37:43.280 that believeth on the son. Who's for this? Hath 00:37:43.280 --> 00:37:48.760 life. Hallelujah. And he that believeth not in 00:37:48.760 --> 00:37:52.539 the Son of God shall not see life, but the wrath 00:37:52.539 --> 00:38:01.920 of God abideth on him. The wrath of God is the 00:38:01.920 --> 00:38:04.119 necessary response of a holy and just God of 00:38:04.119 --> 00:38:09.920 the universe. He sent Jesus to give us life instead 00:38:09.920 --> 00:38:14.000 of wrath. Hear what the scripture says very clearly. 00:38:15.199 --> 00:38:19.000 He is not willing that any should perish, but 00:38:19.000 --> 00:38:24.800 that all should come to repentance. Another way 00:38:24.800 --> 00:38:27.940 of thinking about that is this. He's not willing 00:38:27.940 --> 00:38:35.940 for you to ignore Jesus and go to heaven. I am 00:38:35.940 --> 00:38:38.139 the way, Jesus said, the truth and the life. 00:38:38.500 --> 00:38:48.519 No man. cometh to the Father, but by me." In 00:38:48.519 --> 00:38:52.159 this text, you see a couple of things. First, 00:38:52.280 --> 00:38:58.079 you see the prerequisite for hell. The prerequisite 00:38:58.079 --> 00:39:02.820 for hell is this simple. Believe not the Son. 00:39:05.780 --> 00:39:09.760 Believe not the Son. Reject Jesus Christ and 00:39:09.760 --> 00:39:14.559 you will go to hell. Most folks reject him. Nothing 00:39:14.559 --> 00:39:16.940 brings out animosity like the mentioned or the 00:39:16.940 --> 00:39:20.440 following of Jesus Christ. But it doesn't have 00:39:20.440 --> 00:39:23.860 to be that way. There's a prerequisite for hell, 00:39:24.000 --> 00:39:25.739 believe not the son. There's a prohibition of 00:39:25.739 --> 00:39:30.199 hell. Shall not see life. There are no benefits 00:39:30.199 --> 00:39:33.639 in unbelief. All the advertising of sin is fraudulent. 00:39:34.699 --> 00:39:37.440 Earlier in this chapter, Nicodemus was told that 00:39:37.440 --> 00:39:39.280 he could not see the kingdom of God unless he 00:39:39.280 --> 00:39:43.980 was born again. Rejecting Christ is hard on that 00:39:43.980 --> 00:39:46.840 eyesight. The prohibition of sin, prohibition 00:39:46.840 --> 00:39:50.559 of hell, is you will not see life. You have the 00:39:50.559 --> 00:39:52.480 prerequisite for hell, the prohibition of hell, 00:39:52.739 --> 00:39:55.980 the pain of hell. What is it? The wrath of God. 00:39:57.360 --> 00:39:59.739 Anyone's anger you can survive, but not the wrath 00:39:59.739 --> 00:40:03.420 of God. We much prefer to think about the love 00:40:03.420 --> 00:40:06.739 of God, but reject his beloved son, and you will 00:40:06.739 --> 00:40:09.280 incur wrath unlike any wrath you've ever experienced. 00:40:11.539 --> 00:40:14.559 If you're mad at me right now, just know that 00:40:14.559 --> 00:40:20.179 I'm like the doctor who has the charts, and it 00:40:20.179 --> 00:40:23.480 would be unloving for me to say, you're condemned 00:40:23.480 --> 00:40:27.539 already and not tell you. It would be really 00:40:27.539 --> 00:40:30.900 unloving for me to, Come to this passage and 00:40:30.900 --> 00:40:35.119 to skim by this verse and to tell you I'm okay, 00:40:35.139 --> 00:40:39.960 you're okay. That would be awful. That's why 00:40:39.960 --> 00:40:43.420 we see the permanence of hell in this. It says 00:40:43.420 --> 00:40:48.780 the wrath of God abideth or remaineth. The word 00:40:48.780 --> 00:40:52.019 abideth means to continue upon a person. Other 00:40:52.019 --> 00:40:54.940 texts tell us that hell is for eternity. What 00:40:54.940 --> 00:40:58.199 an awful experience for the soul to come. to 00:40:58.199 --> 00:41:00.300 inhale and realize that he is to suffer the torments 00:41:00.300 --> 00:41:03.519 of hell forever. Hell is a result of the wrath 00:41:03.519 --> 00:41:07.119 of God. Christ rejecters will spend eternity 00:41:07.119 --> 00:41:10.260 in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, 00:41:10.260 --> 00:41:15.960 it says, that is the second death. But I don't 00:41:15.960 --> 00:41:19.739 love talking about hell. The idea that somebody 00:41:19.739 --> 00:41:22.860 would go there, I hate that. And that's why I'm 00:41:22.860 --> 00:41:26.280 so excited to tell you, he that hath the son, 00:41:27.130 --> 00:41:30.809 Hath eternal life. John said it in his epistle 00:41:30.809 --> 00:41:33.269 later, if you have the son, you have life. If 00:41:33.269 --> 00:41:36.070 you don't have the son, you don't have life. 00:41:36.530 --> 00:41:39.710 If you don't have the son, the wrath of God abides 00:41:39.710 --> 00:41:45.349 on you. And so, I love this new hymn that we've 00:41:45.349 --> 00:41:47.429 been singing. My worth is not in what I own. 00:41:48.769 --> 00:41:52.670 It's a great song. And it says in that passage, 00:41:53.230 --> 00:41:58.179 and I love this. Two wonders here that I confess 00:41:58.179 --> 00:42:06.960 my worth and my unworthiness My value fixed my 00:42:06.960 --> 00:42:13.960 ransom paid at the cross You know what Jesus 00:42:13.960 --> 00:42:18.119 did about the wrath of God The Bible says he 00:42:18.119 --> 00:42:20.719 became sin who knew no sin that we might be made 00:42:20.719 --> 00:42:23.599 the righteousness of God in him It says about 00:42:23.599 --> 00:42:26.579 Jesus that he became a propitiation for our sins. 00:42:27.500 --> 00:42:29.900 The word propitiation, it's a big Bible word. 00:42:29.960 --> 00:42:33.980 Here's what it means, a wrath bearing sacrifice. 00:42:34.260 --> 00:42:36.780 You know what that means? That on the cross, 00:42:38.400 --> 00:42:45.340 see, God doesn't just let sin go, right? If I 00:42:45.340 --> 00:42:50.780 were to go to Dave Fawcett and Jan Fawcett's 00:42:50.780 --> 00:42:54.989 house. and I were to knock on the door and Dave 00:42:54.989 --> 00:42:57.989 opens the door and I run in and I just start 00:42:57.989 --> 00:43:02.769 beating up Jan. I'm just, I think I could take 00:43:02.769 --> 00:43:08.409 her. And I'm just wailing on her and I'm kicking 00:43:08.409 --> 00:43:11.510 her and I take out my pocket knife and I start 00:43:11.510 --> 00:43:14.570 stabbing her. That's a gruesome thing, isn't 00:43:14.570 --> 00:43:20.250 it, right? And Dave gets me off and I think I 00:43:20.250 --> 00:43:22.760 can't take Dave and he would. He would get me 00:43:22.760 --> 00:43:28.519 to stop and the police would come. Jen makes 00:43:28.519 --> 00:43:31.079 it. I made it so you make it. Are you happy? 00:43:31.659 --> 00:43:37.659 Okay. That's better. But I stand before the judge. 00:43:38.719 --> 00:43:41.579 There are witnesses. The guilty verdict comes 00:43:41.579 --> 00:43:46.440 back and I'm going to jail. If the judge were 00:43:46.440 --> 00:43:49.239 to say, you know what? I noticed here that you're 00:43:49.239 --> 00:43:53.179 a pastor. And there's a list of things that you 00:43:53.179 --> 00:43:55.320 wrote out of all these good deeds that you did. 00:43:56.360 --> 00:44:01.480 And so I'll let you go with a warning. What kind 00:44:01.480 --> 00:44:06.159 of judge would that be? You'd be a messed up 00:44:06.159 --> 00:44:07.639 judge, right? That would be a messed up judge, 00:44:07.760 --> 00:44:12.119 right? A good judge doesn't let that grow. You 00:44:12.119 --> 00:44:20.519 do the crime, you do the time. Right? And that's 00:44:20.519 --> 00:44:25.860 how we think about human justice. So when I say, 00:44:26.280 --> 00:44:30.599 well, are you going to heaven? And you say to 00:44:30.599 --> 00:44:35.280 me, well, yeah, God's loving and he's forgiving. 00:44:36.420 --> 00:44:38.840 So he'll just let me into heaven because I'm 00:44:38.840 --> 00:44:45.019 a good person. The truth is none of us are good. 00:44:46.219 --> 00:44:52.159 We've all messed up. And here's what Jesus did. 00:44:52.199 --> 00:44:54.219 When Jesus went on the cross, God became flesh 00:44:54.219 --> 00:44:56.920 and dwelt among us. He was born of a virgin. 00:44:56.980 --> 00:45:00.139 He never sinned. He never did anything wrong. 00:45:00.679 --> 00:45:03.460 And when he went on the cross, not only did he 00:45:03.460 --> 00:45:07.340 have the physical pain of death, but he also 00:45:07.340 --> 00:45:11.179 had the wrath of God poured out on him. That's 00:45:11.179 --> 00:45:15.239 why on the cross, Jesus says, Eli, Eli, Lama, 00:45:15.260 --> 00:45:20.579 Sekhbaktani, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken 00:45:20.579 --> 00:45:26.079 me? That's why the sky got dark. And at 12, one, 00:45:26.079 --> 00:45:29.340 two, three, it's like nighttime, why? Because 00:45:29.340 --> 00:45:34.599 that's the judgment of God. He became sin who 00:45:34.599 --> 00:45:38.320 knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness 00:45:38.320 --> 00:45:41.579 of God in him. God poured out his wrath on Jesus 00:45:41.579 --> 00:45:45.110 so that then He can legally do something. He 00:45:45.110 --> 00:45:47.650 can take Jesus's righteousness. And for those 00:45:47.650 --> 00:45:49.730 of us who have put our faith and trust in Jesus, 00:45:49.929 --> 00:45:51.849 he can take Jesus's righteousness and put it 00:45:51.849 --> 00:45:55.570 on our account because he took our sin and the 00:45:55.570 --> 00:45:59.150 judgment for our sin and he put it on Jesus. 00:45:59.889 --> 00:46:03.670 And if God did that for you and you don't acknowledge 00:46:03.670 --> 00:46:08.789 it, you don't believe it, there is no other hope 00:46:08.789 --> 00:46:12.429 for you. And by the way, church, that's why we 00:46:12.429 --> 00:46:19.389 can't be silent. That's why we can't ignore telling 00:46:19.389 --> 00:46:22.269 people the brutal reality of where they're at. 00:46:24.429 --> 00:46:28.269 If they have the son, hallelujah, they have life. 00:46:28.690 --> 00:46:32.750 But if they don't have the son, they don't have 00:46:32.750 --> 00:46:38.260 life and the wrath of God abides on them. And 00:46:38.260 --> 00:46:41.639 if you know that someone's got a terminal disease, 00:46:42.219 --> 00:46:45.260 how much do you have to hate them not to tell 00:46:45.260 --> 00:47:01.900 them? We're not better, we're forgiven. He that 00:47:01.900 --> 00:47:05.320 hath the Son hath everlasting life. He that hath 00:47:05.320 --> 00:47:08.719 not the Son of God, the wrath of God. abideth 00:47:08.719 --> 00:47:12.760 on him. Two wonders here, I confess, my worth 00:47:12.760 --> 00:47:17.239 and my worthiness, my value fixed, my ransom 00:47:17.239 --> 00:47:20.480 paid at the cross. Would you bow your heads and 00:47:20.480 --> 00:47:21.179 close your eyes with me?