John 3:22-36
“After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land
of Judea: there he tarried with them, and baptized. And John also was baptizing in Aenon near
to Salim, because there was much water there: and they
came and were baptized. For
John was not yet cast into prison. Then
there arose a question between some of John’s disciples
and the Jews about purifying. And they came unto John, and said unto
him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom
thou barest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come
to him. John
answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it
be given him from heaven. Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I
said, I am not the Christ [Messiah], but that I am sent
before him. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom:
but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth
him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s
voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease. He that
cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth
is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from
heaven is above all. And what he hath seen and heard, that
he testifieth: and no man receiveth his testimony. He
that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that
God is true. For
he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God
giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him. The Father
loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting
life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life:
but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John
3:22-36).
A Servant’s Heart
“[Going
to the Festival of Life in New York City] it’s also
an opportunity to be stretched, yourself. To be refined and challenged in ways maybe
you never have been. So
keep it in prayer for even yourselves, if maybe the Lord
would have you be part of it. I
know when I went to the Festival of Life in Grenada in 1992
with Mike and his team, I can definitely say I was stretched
and I was challenged, and there’s a few things that
even come to mind to me this morning, and I think one of
the stories is probably a good place to start with for this
text we’re going to be in, John chapter 3. I can remember, even before we left for
the Festival of Life, the Lord was already doing a work in
my heart. I was on the street evangelism team, we
were going to have two teams because there were enough of
us to break into two teams. And
the plan was when we got to Grenada we would each day break
up into the two teams and we would go to various places on
this island of Grenada and do street evangelism. We had drama and skits that we had prepared,
and we would just reach out with the gospel. But
we had two different teams, so two different teams needed
two different leaders. There
was a pastor overseeing the evangelism parts, so he was taking
one team, and there was another leader needed, and this pastor
even once mentioned to me, he said ‘Hey, yah, Steve,
maybe we should have you lead the other team. And
of course in that time in my life I thought that was a great
idea. I thought
that was probably the best plan to have me lead this other
evangelism team, and go around and just kind of be led in
the Lord, and determine where we were going to evangelize,
what town we’d stop in and whatever on the island of
Grenada. Well, it seemed like the right choice
to me, but a little later before we left they picked another
guy. I’ll be honest with you, I remember,
I started to struggle with some thoughts, some issues in
my heart, this other guy, he’s now going to be the
leader, and I was thinking ‘Why did they pick him. What’s
so special about this other particular man, that he’s
gonna be the leader of the team and not me.’ I really struggled with that, to be honest
with you, there was some stuff that was going on in my heart
that I’m not proud about it today, in fact, I can even
tell you that I wasn’t real nice to him initially. So
there was enough of this stuff going on that I wasn’t
real friendly to him. I guess you could say there was some jealousy
and some envy, just ugly stuff in my heart. Well
the Lord dealt with that, and there was some dying that needed
to go on in my heart, and to prepare me for ministry, to
prepare me to even be here in New England today. [Just
three years later, in 1995, if you remember in the previous
transcript, his father-in-law dropt him and his wife off
at this dilapidated old building that become the local Christian
radio station in the area. And 12 of us met on Sunday mornings for
Bible study-services. 2.5
years later we had to move because there were 125 of us. A
couple years later they had to move again, because they were
pushing 400+ members. When
God’s gonna do a work in a person, there is a pounding
down that takes place, a de-leavening, to get all the air
out of the dough, all the vanity, pride and envy. As you’ll see in the text, John
the Baptist had none of this.] And
I think that’s true, it’s key, a servant’s
heart is what we need, and there’s a certain attitude
of humility, a certain type, a certain state to a servant’s
heart. And we’re
going to see that today, as we go through John chapter 3,
as we consider again this life of John the Baptist, a tremendous
example to us. And
as we consider his heart, we certainly will consider a servant’s
heart, and what it means to have a servant’s heart. In fact, we’re going to look at
six different points, six points that we can use as a gauge,
as a measurement for our own hearts. I’m
going to basically ask you six questions as we go through
the text, and you can let the Lord just minister to your
heart and you can give the answer in your heart to that question, ‘Do
we have, do I have, do you have a servant’s heart’ in
the real sense of the word servant? Well
let’s say a word of prayer, and we’ll begin with
verse 22 where we left off last week in John chapter 3.
‘Lord,
as we look at this text together we thank you for this opportunity
to study your Word, and to consider these truths that are
here. And Holy Spirit we would ask that you
would work in power in all our hearts, that you’d be
upon all of us, upon even myself as we share your Word. We
need you to illuminate these truths, we need you to even
expose our own hearts. So we desire that, and we ask you for
that. We want
to leave this morning even with a change in heart in different
areas where it’s needed. So we ask that you’d lead us, and
be upon all of us, even upon me know as I share your Word,
and I ask you this Lord, in Jesus name, Amen.’
The baptism of John the Baptist
and Jesus was the baptism of immersion
Beginning with verses 22-24, chapter 3 of John, “After
these things Jesus and his disciples came into the land
of Judea, and there he remained with them and baptized. Now
John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there
was much water there, and they came and were baptized. For
John had not yet been thrown into prison.” So here we see where we left off last week,
that Jesus and his disciples are baptizing, but also we
see John is baptizing, what turns out to be not too far
away from the area that Jesus is baptizing, in this area
of Aenon Salim. We
are told that John has chosen this particular area that
he’s in, it says in verse 23 he was baptizing there
because there was much water in that area, there was much
water there. So,
a lot of water. That’s why he chose to do his baptizing
there. That
does say one thing, that it’s not likely that the
baptism that John the Baptist was doing and Jesus was doing
was that of “sprinkling”. You
don’t need a whole lot of water to sprinkle. But
you do need a lot of water to do baptism by immersion. And I think it’s pretty clearly
seen in this text that the baptism that John was doing,
John the Baptist, but also Jesus, was by immersion. And there’s also other reasons for
that too, that’s what baptism by immersion shows
us, what it demonstrates, what it represents. As
it says in Romans, and we’ll consider this later
today, in Romans chapter 5, baptism by immersion very wonderfully
speaks the message of the gospel, that Jesus Christ died,
was buried, and was raised to life. So
each time a person is baptized and immersed into the water,
there’s this testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ
[which gospel we just viewed in the previous transcript]. And
Paul says too in Romans that when we are baptized, we’re
also showing that we are being unified, we’ve united
with the death of Jesus Christ, and we’ve also been
united with him in his resurrection. So
then, Paul writes in Romans that now we walk in Christ
in newness of life. So there’s this statement in baptism
of new life, that with Jesus you can find life. So
as we go today to the State Forest, of course we use baptism
by immersion, baptism doesn’t save us, but we believe
Biblically that’s what they did, and there’s
a reason in doing that, baptizing that way. But as we’re going to do that, people
will be baptized, they’ll be immersed in the water
there at the State Forest, but there will be this witness,
this declaration. [For
those that believe in the old apostolic way of being baptized
as a way of asking Christ into one’s life, as shown
in the book of Acts, realize some of the reason why they
might have believed that the “water”
spoken of by Jesus when he was talking to Nicodemus of being
born of water and of Spirit, in the process of being born
again, represented the water of baptism, was that right after
this statement to Nicodemus, Jesus the next day goes out
and starts baptizing. The
two events, Jesus’ explanation to Nicodemus, and Jesus
actually going out and baptizing, are right there back to
back in the same chapter of John. Rabbi’s
say that with God, there are no coincidences. Sabbatarian
Churches of God view it this way, and their heritage goes
right back to the beginning of the Church in Jerusalem and
Asia Minor. Just a thought.] Very simply, but powerfully demonstrating
the gospel of Jesus Christ. Good
reason to even be praying as you drive over there, ‘Lord,
speak to all the different people that come, that will be
watching the baptism, speak to their hearts, and even draw
some to Christ, even through the baptism.’ We’re told in verse 24, this is
occurring before John was thrown into prison. Later,
not long from now, he’s going to be thrown into jail,
imprisoned. Herod
is going to do that to him, because Herod is going to become
very upset with John. We know that Herod was intrigued by the
message of John the Baptist, but yet at the same time, John
boldly proclaimed the truth, and he stood for certain things. And
because of that, Herod is going to take John and throw him
into prison, and then if you know your Bible, it won’t
be too long after that John the Baptist will even die a martyr’s
death. So, it’s
possible too, as we consider this baptism later, that there
will be some people that will be watching. We
know, last time it took place, there were some people that
were scoffers, they really didn’t appreciate what we
were doing. And it’s possible as we go out there
today, there will be some people that won’t appreciate
what we stand for. But that just means, like Herod, Herod
didn’t like John the Baptist because he was convicted
of his sin. What John the Baptist stood for was truth,
and that truth really went to the heart of Herod, and convicted
him of his own lifestyle. [Herod
had taken his brother’s wife, and had married her himself.] So
as we’re doing that today, if there’s any that
don’t really like what we’re doing, and express
it, well you can just know, it’s because of something
going on in their heart. [And
as this age gets more and more evil, this animosity to true
Christianity and toward Messianic believers in Yeshua as
well, will grow in intensity. If you’ve just noticed the number
of murders, rapes, and gruesome crimes that have been increasing
in number and brutality, just this news coming across foxnews.com
( http://www.foxnews.com ),
it is clearly evident that our society is getting more and
more Godless, God-hating, and dark. And
as last week’s transcript showed, Jesus said people
don’t want to come to his spiritual “light” because
they love that darkness, the darkness of their own deeds
and evil hearts.] There’s
conviction going on. In
fact, we just read in verses 20 and 21 of John chapter 3, “For
everyone practicing evil hates the light, and does not come
to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.” So people don’t come to the light,
they’re hostile against the gospel, against the light,
because of their own deeds, because of their own issues in
their heart.
A dispute between John the Baptist’s
disciples and the Jews over purification
We’ll
let’s continue with verse 25, “Then there arose a dispute
between some of John’s disciples and the Jews about
purification. And they came to John and said to him, ‘Rabbi,
he who is with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified,
behold he’s baptizing and all are coming to him.’” We’re not exactly told the details,
but we’re told here by the apostle John, he mentions
this dispute that is taking place between the disciples of
John the Baptist and some Jews. If you have the NIV, it says “a
certain Jew”, rather than “Jews”, and it’s
really probable, because of the Greek, that it was just an
individual, or maybe there were some with him, but there
was a prominent individual that was having this dispute upon
the subject of purification with the disciples of John the
Baptist. Now what’s the big deal about purification? Why
was there a dispute? Well as you remember too, in the ministry
of Jesus, there are times where he upsets the religious leaders
over this very issue of purification, and of what is being
clean, and how do you become clean, and if you’re unclean,
what’s the ceremony to go through to be clean. It was an issue that even the religious
leaders come at Jesus for. And
that is because ceremonial purification was significant to
the Jew, it was significant also because of the Law. We’ve
been studying on Wednesday nights about the Law, and God
very clearly teaches the people that you need to be ceremonially
clean, and if you become unclean, and there’s ways
you can become unclean, now there’s a process for you
to become clean. In
some instances it included water as part of the process,
part of the ceremony in various ways. But in Jesus’ day the religious
leaders, because of legalism, because of the attitude, the
pride of hearts, there were other things that were being
taught, the traditions, that made this purification thing
even a bigger deal. In
fact, they taught that some of their traditions related to
this were more important, more weighty, than even the Law,
the Word of God. So they really held the people in bondage. Some
of the teachings they had, traditions where if you even got
the dust on you from an area where a Gentile had passed through,
if the dust that had touched the Gentile touched you, you
were unclean. That
was something they added. That
made life pretty difficult. Obviously
there always was an uncertainty, I mean, dust. Dust
has been around for awhile, touched a few people, I’m
sure. It even got stranger, there’s one
particular group that taught, religious leaders, that this
demon, supposedly, called Shibna would often come, and he
would sit upon a man’s hands as he slept, so you would
become unclean. This
was their tradition. So
because of that, and we have even seen an allusion to that
in chapter 2, where in chapter 2 where Jesus did the miracle
using the water pots, those water pots were part of this
whole deal where they believed you could become unclean,
possibly the demon Shibna has sat on your hand, so when you
ate, you needed to go through a ceremonial process that they
came up with to become clean, and there was this whole ritual,
and you had to do it at every course during the meal. [And this was never a valid part of God’s
written Word, and Law, the Torah!] So,
purification was significant to the Jew in the time here
that we’re reading about. And
hence, there is this dispute, we don’t know necessarily
the details, but we know also baptism at times was part of
the process of this purification. They
would baptize vessels, immerse vessels in water, cups and
brazen vessels, things like that, to make them clean, and
also we know that a Gentile would have to be baptized in
order to convert to Judaism. So, baptism was also part of this purification
process. We don’t
know necessarily why there’s a dispute, but it is going
on. [And perhaps
wherever you had the religious leadership involved, there
was a financial payment going on for “religious services
rendered”. Jesus and John the Baptist by what they
taught, were threatening to undo this elaborate ceremonial
system the religious leadership had in place over the people.] We
know what happens from the dispute, is that then John’s
disciples come to John. Evidently
in the dispute, Jesus becomes part of the subject, and because
of that, now they come to John, John the Baptist, the disciples
of John, and they bring this concern, and the concern is ‘Hey,
this guy that you had mentioned, that you said you saw the
Spirit come upon, this one you pointed to, this Lamb of God
you said, man, his ministry is really taking off. In
fact, he’s been baptizing not far from here, and there’s
just crowds coming.’ In fact, they use the word “All”,
which isn’t necessarily true, because John the Baptist
is baptizing. They say “all”, and based
on the response of John the Baptist, there’s a sense
of potential envy and jealousy there,
‘His ministry is really taking off. In
fact, he seems to be taking a lot of your people, John the
Baptist, your ministry seems to be diminishing, and his seems
to be growing.’ Well that can be an awkward situation,
an uncomfortable situation to face when somebody comes to
you and says ‘Your ministry’s getting smaller
and that guy over there, his ministry is getting bigger’,
that can make you a little uncomfortable. And certainly the reply you have will
tell us a little bit about your heart. And
John’s reply, John the Baptist, his reply to this concern,
shows us a little bit about his heart. And
his heart was not like my heart was during that time in Grenada,
that’s for sure. His heart is a lot different. He’s got the heart of a true servant. And with his response we have a question
where we can gauge our own hearts, as we consider if we’re
truly servants. Verse 27 from there on, his response makes
it real clear that he’s not so concerned about his
own ministry.
1. So, the first question: Am I discouraged by another’s success?
John has this
situation, they’re coming to him because Jesus’ ministry
is growing, and his ministry of baptism is getting smaller,
evidently. And
John replies a certain way, and the question to you and I
is: Am I discouraged by another’s success? Or
am I encouraged and blessed, even when someone else surpasses
me? Just an honest question you can ask yourself. Imagine today, we go to the State Forest,
and as we’re there we’re doing our baptism, and
at the other end of the beach there’s another church
doing a baptism. And
as you look over, there’s a long line of people being
baptized with this other ministry. In
fact, there’s like a hundred people lined up, and there’s
a big crowd, there’s a lot of excitement and worship
going on, and you look over at our baptism, it isn’t
quite as big, I mean, it seems smaller. In
fact, the people that have gathered at the State Forest just
to barbeque and to be there now see this large baptism, and
they’re all focused on that, and they don’t even
notice our baptism, and I mean, they don’t even care
because of this other ministry and their baptism. That’s sort of what’s going
on, it appears, with Jesus and John the Baptist. So
how would we respond in that case? I
mean, the truth is that at times, some of us in our hearts,
we’d say
‘You know, they’re using some kind of carnal
method, I mean, those people aren’t really saved, they’re
paying them to do that, you know, they’ve never had
a baptism before, that’s why they have so many people. They’ve
waited years to do that [laughter]’. I mean, there’s all kinds of things
you can start thinking to justify, and to make an excuse,
and to justify and vindicate yourself. What
would be our reaction in our heart? What
would we say about the other ministry?
Then the question: What should
be our reaction? Would
we be rejoicing?
Well, our reaction
should be “Praise God!, praise God! Look
at all those people, praise the Lord, he’s working
in their hearts, man he’s blessing that ministry. The
kingdom of God is being furthered, greatly expanded. Praise
God!”. We
should be rejoicing. I
guess the question is: Would we be rejoicing? That
statement “And all are coming to him”, those
words can be hard to hear if there is pride in our hearts. ‘That
guy’s doing better.’ And
those are words that are hard to hear if there’s pride
in my heart. It
can be tempting to begin to question, you know, ‘Why
him, Lord?’ ‘Why not me? Man,
I’ve been faithfully serving you, I’ve been counting
the cost, I’ve been sacrificing.’ John
the Baptist, you know, has been eating bugs in the wilderness. He’s
been working hard, and yet this other guy’s now got
a bigger ministry? I
mean, there can be those types of questions, those types
of concerns. It’s
just the reality of our hearts. [And yet, when you look at
the actual size of John’s preparation ministry for
Jesus’ arrival, it must have been huge. Disciples
of John the Baptist those that had been baptized in John’s
baptism had been found as far away as Asia Minor, as the
apostles learned when they spread out carrying the gospel
on their missionary journeys. John
also knew the purpose for his ministry, and that it was to
pave the way, lay a foundation, a spiritual foundation, for
Jesus’ ministry to follow.] Well, I hope, I pray, that my heart, more
and more would be like that of John the Baptist, and likewise,
your heart too, that. Well
see as we go on. Here’s his response, initially. John
3, verse 27, he answered and said “Man can receive
nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven.” Well
the first thing that he clearly mentions here is that whatever
ministry is going on, if God is working, if there’s
something good, it isn’t because of any man to begin
with. It’s
because God has done it. God
has given that portion of ministry, whether it be small in
our eyes, or large in our eyes, God ultimately, if there’s
good going on, well it comes from the Lord. And that says too then that we don’t
deserve anything. If
it comes from God, and it doesn’t come from us, I mean,
it’s just a blessing from God that he would even use
us. So, we don’t
deserve anything. And
therefore it’s a privilege to be used by the Lord in
whatever the context might be, in whatever the degree it
might be. God
gives as he chooses, he may want to bless another church
in this area of central New England much more than our church,
he may want to bless another individual in this church [or
another church entirely] with a tremendous visible ministry
more so than yourself. God
does as he chooses. He blesses and he gives as he chooses,
and that’s his prerogative. I
know there are times, as I look back over the last number
of years, we’ve been here 8 years now in this town,
and looking back, there’s times I’ve gotten a
little discouraged, and said ‘Why not more, Lord? Why
not more, Lord? Why
aren’t things bigger? Why
isn’t more happening?’ There’s
times, different seasons, I’ve had those questions. And
sometimes I even looked to other places and said ‘Why
is it easier for that guy? I
mean, man, it just seems easier, I don’t even think
that guy has to fast and pray, I think he just has fun, and,
and man, you’re building his church up, Lord, I know
he’s got an easier life, it’s very clear, he’s
happy, never having to struggle, why is it easier, Lord?’ [That
poor guy he just described. When
the spiritual ‘fit hits the shan’ that guy will
probably crumble. Besides,
I’m reminded of the Tenth Fleet. It was a military naval fleet that didn’t
possess one single ship. It
was located in a building. It
was placed over the command of the entire US Naval Air Forces,
Navy and Army Air Corps along the eastern seaboard, and when
they would triangulate the location of a German U-boat from
its radio transmissions, they’d send the information
to the nearest military organization, whether that be an
aircraft carrier out in the Atlantic, or some PBY or B-17
out of a land airbase along the east coast of the US. The carrier, and their pilots, or the
B-17 or PBY pilot would get all the glory for marking “Paid
in full” on that U-boat that was sunk. The
Tenth Fleet got nothing, no credit whatsoever. Most
people, even today never even heard of it. Yet
it was vital to the destruction of 7/8ths of all U-boats
sunk in the Atlantic Ocean. Your
ministry plays a vital
part in the huge plan Jesus is working out here-below, furthering
the kingdom of God. You may not precisely see what Jesus is
doing with your ministry, but rest assured, if it is of God,
he is doing something vital with it. We’re
in a spiritual war with the devil and his demons, and the
world he’s influencing. And prophecy---all prophecy shows---we
with Jesus win in the end. You
may not understand fully your part, but you’re part
of a whole here. That’s what this website is all
about---creating unity within the body of Christ---to create
a unity of actions and giving, a spiritual unity, a unity
between the various spiritual-military elements of God’s
army. Right now,
we’re waging an information war against the enemy,
proclaiming the Gospel of Salvation and also the good news
of his coming kingdom physically to earth---the Millennial
Kingdom of God. Later
at Jesus’ return, at the time of the resurrection to
immortality, we will actually rise up in the air and mount
spirit white stallions, and ride them back down to earth,
to conquer those that are trying to destroy the earth. Read
Revelation 19:1-21. Get the big picture. You may only be a tiny part of that big
picture, but it’s important, nonetheless. So
stop feeling sorry for yourself, pick up your spiritual rifle,
put a clip in it and get back on the line. OK?] You
know, if you get like that, you can get in a funk, and that
funk can get pretty ugly if you stay there very long, that’s
for sure. Some
of us do, and some of us have been in that situation. I remember though, one of those times,
I was that way, had been a couple days. For
whatever reason I got into that type of mindset, ‘Just
doesn’t seem fair, Lord, that it’s going that
way over there and it’s not going that way here.’ And I got that way, and got into this
funk, and of course, I wasn’t real happy and nice to
be around as a result. But I remember, as I was doing that, in
this funk, I was thinking about things, and it seems the
Lord brought some thoughts to my mind, and there were thoughts
of my older life before Christ. Vivid images came into my mind. I’m like, ‘Why am I having
these thoughts?’ But
then there was this sense that came upon my heart, ‘You
know, I really don’t deserve anything. As I consider my former life, very clearly
Christ saved me, he then eventually moved me to California,
[and gave you a wife, a wonderful wife!---to help you minister],
and then prepared me to come here. God
did that because he chose to do that. And
if I had just gone on my own course, man, I wouldn’t
be where I am today anyway. And this sense came over me, man, ‘I
don’t deserve anything. Why
am I even having these thoughts? I
am just blessed to have what I have.’ And
to be honest with you, I have repented. And
man, my attitude changed tremendously. I
left our home with a completely different outlook, because
I had repented of those thoughts. Maybe
you’re here today, and you need to do the same. There’s
jealousy, there’s envy in one degree or another in
your heart, and you’re not just being content with
the blessing that God has given you in your life, whether
it be ministry or another thing. And
what needs to happen is repentance. And
repentance goes a long way, that’s for sure, in changing
our attitude.
2. So the second thing is: ‘Do
I understand where the goodness and power come from?’
Well, John answered
and said “A man can receive nothing unless it
is given to him from heaven.” So
this man knows where goodness and blessing comes from. Do
I also understand that blessing, goodness, anything good
in my life, comes from one place, it comes from God, that
it comes from above, and it doesn’t come from within? That’s
a second question I can ask, perspective. Man,
that’s a good perspective in my heart, I realize if
there’s anything good going on, God has done it, therefore,
all the praise and glory goes to him. There
isn’t this sense about me and my place and all that
type of stuff. If
there’s anything truly good going on in a person’s
ministry, the credit goes to God, if there’s any power
to heal, any power to encourage, any power to transform,
any power to save, any power to bless, on and on, any power
at all, it’s because God has given the power, and certainly
not myself or anybody else. And that simple understanding, living
with that understanding, helps me change my perspective. Really, there’s an attitude of humility
that comes with that. John
Sheen once said this, he said, “The proud man counts
his newspaper clippings, the humble man his blessings.” There’s
two different outlooks, one guy says ‘Man, look at
all these things in the newspaper about me. Man,
I’ve done a great job.’ The other guy says, and he sees that in
the newspaper clipping, ‘Praise God! Look
what the Lord has done!’ ‘The
grace and mercy of God’, two different outlooks on
life, two different perspectives. Which one is yours? The one you have really makes a difference
in your life, that’s for sure. There
was a wealthy man, I can’t say his name exactly, I
think it’s Baron von Weltz, he was a wealthy man, had
titles and things, one of these tremendously wealthy people
in Europe, and prestigious. Well
he decided to renounce his titles, his estates, his revenues,
all those things, he forsook that, and he went to the mission
field, he went to British Guiana, where he eventually died. Filled
a lonely grave. Renouncing
his title, he said “What is to me the title well-born?” he
had this title
‘well-born’, “What is to me that title
when I’m born again in Christ? What is to me the title ‘lord’ when
I desire to be a servant of Christ? What
is to be called ‘your grace’ when I need to have
God’s grace. All these vanities I will away with, and
all else I will lay at the feet my dear Lord Jesus.” He says, ‘All that doesn’t
mean anything. Man,
calling me ‘your grace, lord, well-born, in that culture,
this wealthy man.’ He decided to leave all of that because
of the grace of God, the Lordship of God, the fact that he
was born again, that was what it all meant, that’s
what was important to him. So as the months go on here in our downtown,
in this building, if anything good goes on here at all, any
measure of goodness, it’s come from one source, it’s
come from God himself, because he’s decided in his
grace and his sovereign will to bless in one capacity or
another. Nobody
can take credit for it. That’s
the clear teaching of the Word. And
therefore there’s no room for competition. If
God wants to bless another place, go for it God, praise the
Lord, expand your kingdom. Because it’s the grace of God, anyway,
that he would even choose to use us at all.
3. Next point: ‘Is my speech consumed with myself,
or is my speech consumed with Jesus Christ?’
Verse 28, John continues in his response,
he says “You
yourselves bear me witness that I said ‘I am not the
Christ, but I have been sent before him.’” So
he reminds them of things he’s already said. And
that tells me a little bit too. There
was a certain pattern with John the Baptist in his speech. And
his speech obviously reflected his heart. And that brings me to our next point. Is my speech consumed with myself, or
is my speech consumed with Jesus Christ? The
answer to that question also is certainly significant. Remember Jesus said, in Luke chapter 6 “For
out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” ‘Out
of the abundance of his heart his mouth speaks.’ What
I say is certainly a barometer of what’s going on in
my heart. If I’m talking a lot about myself,
that tells you a little bit about the condition of my heart. If I talk a lot about myself, that’s
because I like myself. I
like to tell you about myself, because I think highly of
myself, and I think a lot about myself, and that’s
why I’m always talking about myself. It
goes on and on and on. And
certainly some of us are like that, or have been like that. D.L. Moody once, referencing Dr. Binar
on Christian growth, he said this, “Dr. Binar once
said that he could tell when a Christian was growing. In
proportion to his growth in grace, he would elevate his Master,
talk less of what he himself was doing, and become smaller
and smaller in his own esteem, until, like the morning star,
he faded away before the rising sun.” I think that’s great. And it’s true. And as you listen to people, if they’re
talking a lot about Jesus, that means there’s some
good things going on. But if they’re talking a lot about
themselves, and maybe they’re a Christian, maybe they
want to be in ministry, maybe they want to serve, but they’re
talking too much about themselves, there’s a pride
issue. There’s
a perspective issue, there’s not humility in their
hearts. [Comment: If
you’re in a ministry, and “circumstances are
beatin’ the over-lovin’
crap outa you, well, Jesus is merely humbling you for what
he’s given you to do. Grin
and bear it, something good’s gonna come out of it. Then
give the glory to Jesus when it happens.] So
I guess the question to you then is, ‘What’s
your speech like?’ You say you’re a Christian, do you
talk a lot about Jesus? I
mean, if you’re really just in love with him and impressed
by who he is, you can’t help but talk a lot about him. But
if your speech is consumed with “I” and “me”,
and “this is what I’ve done”, and “this
is where I’ve been.” I
tell you, people like that are depressing to be around anyway,
you know. And
they’re always trying to one-up you. You
know, if you tell a story, they’ve always got a better
one, where they’ve been, and what they’ve experienced. That’s
depressing. Well,
anyway.
“The friend of the Bridegroom”
Verse 29, John goes further, he says “He who has the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of the
bridegroom who stands and hears him rejoices greatly because
of the bridegrooms’
voice, therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled.” Now what is John the Baptist referring
to here? He’s
referring to this custom, and he’s using this custom
in his day to depict a certain truth. But in his day the wedding custom in that
time was, the best man was essentially in charge of a lot
of the affairs of the wedding. The
best man, the friend of the bridegroom, he invited the guests
to the wedding, he made preparations for the wedding, and
finally upon the completion of the wedding, he escorted the
bridegroom and the bride into the bridal chamber. And of course, if he heard some good things
from the bridegroom at that point, coming out of the chamber,
if he heard, ‘hey, good job, things have gone great,
man, what a blessed wedding….’, I mean, he would
be pleased. He
had done all this work, did his best, wanted to make the
bridegroom happy, and if things had gone well, at the end,
he had that sense, hey, the bride is happy, the bridegroom
is happy, therefore I’m thrilled because I was used
in that context. That’s
what John the Baptist is referring to here. You
see what really drives his heart. What
truly drives his heart isn’t his own success, it isn’t
his own reputation, recognition, or fame, but simply pleasing
Jesus, simply hearing the voice, having a relationship with
the bridegroom, having an interaction with the bridegroom,
that is what drives his heart. In
fact, that’s what he says. He
says, with that, “therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled.” ‘I
am thrilled. I’ve heard the bridegroom’s
voice, I’ve done the task that I was….I’m
actually thrilled he’s spoken to me, we have this relationship,
I’ve pleased him.’ So,
then our next point to gauge and measure my own heart, and
do I have a true servant’s heart:
4. Is my joy, is my satisfaction
based simply on knowing and hearing Jesus---And on pleasing
him?
Is that my joy? Is that what I base my joy on, is that
where I get my satisfaction, from simply knowing and simply
pleasing Jesus? Or am I always looking for acceptance
and approval elsewhere, looking for satisfaction from something
else other than Jesus alone? Well,
that is certainly a way to gauge my own heart…..there
will be times where he’ll speak to me in unique ways
as I serve him, what a thrill. The
joy of just serving the Lord and being used by him. Those
powerful times where he even ministers to me as I’m
just serving him. That’s
all that mattered to John the Baptist, and I think that’s
a good question then, a way to consider my own heart. And
that’s where our hearts need to be, man, that’s
a good life. As
Gustave Dorey was putting the finishing touches on the face
of Christ in one of his paintings, an admiring friend stepped
quietly into the studio, and she looked just with this gasping
breath upon the painting. Dorey sensed her presence, and he said
graciously,
‘Pardone, Madame, I did not know you were here.’ She answered ‘Messeur Dorey, you
must love him very much to be able to paint him thus.’ ‘Love
him, Madam, exclaimed Dorey, I do love him, but if I loved
him better, I would paint him better.’ I
think that’s a great little story. She’s
saying, ‘Man, you must really love him, you’ve
put a lot of time into that painting, just how beautiful,
you didn’t paint him all ugly, you just painted a beauty,
that painting.’ He
said ‘If I loved him more, I’d even put more
effort into that.’ So somebody has said if we love Christ
better, we would indeed serve him better. So,
what was driving the heart of John the Baptist? Man, he just wanted to please the Lord. He just wanted to be near him and hear
his voice. I
know in serving the Lord, man, there are times, just in simply
serving, because you’re responding in obedience as
he’s leading you, and you’re serving him, there
are times he speaks to you, there are times he ministers
to you, to equip you for a situation you’re going to
encounter, to help you in a particular time, there’s
a trial, a testing, there’s a challenge that you’re
facing as you minister, and then he ministers to you, and
ah, it’s
pretty sweet. I think that’s what John is saying,
that’s what’s in his heart. ‘My
joy is just fulfilled.’ And
to have joy fulfilled, and I mean, that’s the goal
in life, right? To
get to the end and go, ‘Ah, joy is fulfilled.’ So, based on the road you’re going
on, I mean, where’s that road going to take you? Are
you going to be able to say that at the end too ‘My
joy is fulfilled?’ ‘I’ve
lived life in a certain way that I’ve just got an overflowing
joy.’ That’s that Greek word, joy. There’s so much joy because of what
has happened. The only way that’s going to happen
in your life, is if Jesus Christ is your focus. Because
in the end you’re going to stand before him, and you’re
going to be with him as a Christian. And
if Christ isn’t in your heart, well, there’s
no way without Christ to truly say
“My joy is fulfilled in me.” Well, speaking of
motives of hearts, reasons to serve the Lord, Hudson Taylor
was interviewing some young people who had volunteered for
the Lord’s service. He
asked several practical questions to find out how well qualified
these people were for the life they were anticipating, as
they wanted to go and be missionaries. One
such question was “And why do you wish to go to a foreign
mission field?” One replied “I want to reach others
across the sea because Christ has commanded us to go into
all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” Of
course, that’s a noteworthy answer. Another
said “I want to go because millions are dying without
ever hearing Christ and the gospel message, the only one
that can save them.” Others had similar answers. Well Hudson Taylor looked at them thoughtfully
for a moment and said “All of your motives are good. But I fear they will fail you in times
of severe testing and tribulation, especially if you’re
confronted with the possibility of having to face death for
your testimony. The only motive that will enable you to
remain true is stated in 2nd Corinthians chapter
5, verse 14, Christ’s love constraining you will keep
you faithful in every situation.” And that’s what Paul says. The love of Christ constrains me, I have
this tremendous love for him, that moves me, and that’s
why I do what I do. [i.e. the love of Christ controls me,
is controlling my thoughts and actions.] That’s why he was willing to be
stoned and rejected and despised, to do all the things that
he did, because he had a passion for Jesus Christ. You
see that in John the Baptist, and that is true of a servant’s
heart. So what
about your heart? I
will say this, I do believe that in the Church in America,
this is part of the issue. Why
are the things the way they are in our nation today? It’s
because as a Church, it lacks true passion for Jesus Christ. We’re just so full with all the
other stuff in the world, so divided and so busy with so
many other things, there’s no passion in the Church. There’s
just this complacency, there’s a dryness. And
may God in his grace rekindle the fire in our hearts, that
there’s a passion for Jesus Christ, there’s a
passion when I come to church, there’s a passion when
I open the Bible, there’s a passion when I pray, because
the love of Christ constrains me. John
the Baptist says ‘Man, my joy is fulfilled, because
I’ve just been serving the Lord, and he’s blessed
me, and ministered to me.’ I
don’t need recognition, I don’t need fame, I
don’t need anything, I just need Jesus Christ. And
I’m sad, and it’s sad to say, and I’m sure
many of us agree, that’s lacking in the Church today,
and if the Church would just wake up, man it would change
the state of things in America, that the people in our nation
could look and say ‘There’s a Church that has
a purpose, there’s some people that know what real
joy is all about, and satisfaction. I
want that, because they clearly know it and they’ve
clearly got it.’ And so many people look in other places
for joy, when it’s found in Jesus Christ. That’s
where it’s at, in him alone.
5. Next point: “He must increase,
but I must decrease”
Verse 30, I tell you, this verse should be on our refrigerators. I
say that a lot. But this is another one. “He
must increase, but I must decrease.” Just
so willing, Jesus’ notoriety, his ministry was growing,
John the Baptist’s is fading off the scene, not a problem,
he understood that was the real deal anyway. That
was God’s purpose. And he says “He
must increase, but I must decrease.” You
know, is that the condition of our heart? That
is the next point, to gauge my own heart. What
can be said about the attitude of my heart? Is
my heart “He must increase, I must decrease”? Is that our desire? Is that something that we think and say? You know, it’s a painful process,
it’s not an easy thing to go through. But
when we see who Jesus is, and we understand who we are, then
I think that should be all the more the desire of our hearts. Just
wanting to disappear so that Jesus can be seen, he can reign. I remember, in fact I was looking
through an old journal for1995, I had been here just a short
time, was doing the radio ministry, we had gotten it on the
air in the fall of 1994. At that particular time Bob had come,
was volunteering, and was part of this little ministry. So when my wife and I had moved here,
we had this guy Bob, and that was it for the ministry here
in this town. And we had left a larger church which
had all the things of fellowship, and the blessings of having
a lot of things like that around you, friends and things. Well
I had come with a certain understanding too, that God was
calling me to be a pastor of a church, to plan a Bible study,
and that it was his intention to raise up a church, and to
assist Christian radio. That was the vision on my heart. So I had done internship training and
pastoral training out west, and was doing some more in New
Hampshire, and due for certain reasons the internship in
January 1995 ended abruptly, it ended abruptly, not because
of myself, but there were a few guys in the internship and
the pastor up there wasn’t pleased with these guys,
they weren’t taking it seriously, so as a result he
just canceled the whole deal. And so I was kind of a victim of that. He expressed that he had wanted to come
down here to this town and work with me here. But
suddenly this internship stopped and all I was doing was
the radio. I remember, we’d come back late
at night from NH, I was driving, it was late one night, and
my wife was at that time visiting family in California, I
was driving back and man, I was confused. You know, I was telling the Lord, ‘We
got the radio going, and I’m doing that, but now the
internship is over, my training has come short, I mean, are
you saying Lord….you just put a desire on my heart,
you got me out here with that desire, so you could just have
me do radio.’ And I told the Lord ‘Radio, is a
tremendous privilege, but I’m really not good at it,
it’s very embarrassing.’ I mean, even this morning I stumble through
my words, me a DJ? I
mean, there’s nothing smooth about my speech, I mean,
you guys know that. But just so God is glorified, he raises
up fools for Christ, that’s for sure. But
radio is a whole another deal, you know, when you got to
be on that microphone. Right? So, there was that, and I had this passion
though to be a pastor. So
I was confused. To be honest with you, I was discouraged. Radio
is a tremendous opportunity, but that’s just not what
was driving this heart right here at the time. Well
I came back, my wife came back from California, and she could
tell I was discouraged, I was wrestling through this. So
she was talking to another pastor in the community, and he
had mentioned,
‘You know, your husband needs to get away, there’s
a place, Singing Hills, up in Plainfield NH, they let pastors
go up there just to seek the Lord. It
was free of charge, which was right down my alley. So he mentioned it to my wife, she mentioned
it to me, so I went to Plainfield NH. And
it was an interesting time, during the winter, it was February,
so nobody was there, up in the mountains. I
had this entire retreat facility, they took me to the kitchen
with a big refrigerator, walk-in cooler, said ‘Help
yourself, you got that whole place to yourself, nobody’s
here.’ Lodges
and buildings, little creepy too, you know, being alone up
in the mountains. But it was snowing too, there was a snowstorm,
and I was there for a couple days seeking the Lord, and God
was ministering to my heart. And
this will sound crazy, I don’t want to sound sentimental
or anything, I still want to be macho, I don’t want
to go too far the other way. But
this is the thought that occurred to me, and I read it recently,
and I thought of this text, what he says here. And
as I was going through the Scriptures, God was ministering
to me. And this one particular night I was looking
out the window, and the lights were on, the deck out there,
you know you can only see so far with the lights, but it
was snowing, it was big snowflakes, it was really snowing
a lot. So it
was beautiful, and I was alone, it was quiet. I
was looking out the window and considering and watching the
snowflakes, and that truth came to my mind that every one
of those flakes is completely different. They
look like they’re similar, but they’re all completely
different. As
I was watching the snow accumulate, that reality hit me,
that as each one accumulates in the snow it completely disappears. And the snow is accumulating, but those
snowflakes, they look nice for a moment, and then they’re
gone. But they’re part of the whole process. And God just kind of spoke to my heart. ‘That’s the heart you need,
Bill, just be a snowflake for Christ [laughter], just don’t
be a flake, just be a snowflake.’ [laugher] But you know, let me use you, but disappear,
man. Let me use
you in the overall effect of my kingdom growing and increasing,
but just disappear, man.’ And I heard my pastor say that many times
out west, ‘he didn’t want to leave his thumb-prints,
he didn’t want to leave any fingerprints on anything
in this ministry, just make Jesus be seen.’ Chuck Smith said “I won’t
put my name on anything, you’re not going to find any
buildings around here with ‘Chuck Smith’
on it, it’s all Jesus Christ, let’s keep the
focus there.” And that should be the attitude of our
hearts. And so
there’s a dying that went on in my heart then. I
left that time going ‘OK Lord, if it’s just radio,
I mean it’s a privilege to even use me in that, I’ll
do that. Just
to be used, I’ll sit in a little studio in this town,
we only know a couple people, no one else even knows us,
that’s fine, I’ll do that if it’s what
you want me to do.’ But
it was just a couple weeks later, the end of February 1995
that the Bible study started on Sunday morning. Suddenly
God just moved it, we started a Bible study, and here we
are now seven plus years later. [Shortly after that I started attending
this Bible study. At
first there were only about 12 of us meeting in that tiny
moldy radio studio building . 2.5 years later we were meeting in a larger
rented building with 125 attending in regular church services. When this sermon was given in 2003 they
had moved to an old mill in the middle of town, signed a
lease, fixed it up and now have 400+ members meeting. That’s
what happens when the Lord moves, as we step out of the way,
just being a snowflake in his hands.] So,
is my heart “He must increase, I must decrease”? Is
that our heart? You
know, if you’re ministering, and you’re the focus,
one way you can tell is people start to cling to you, and
they want you to do the ministering, rather than somebody
else. That’s sometimes an indicator that ‘I’m
getting in the way here too much, I should be pointing people
to Jesus Christ.’ If they start clinging to me, then maybe
I’m trying to be their savior rather than pointing
them to the Savior, and that is Jesus Christ. Oswald
Chambers said “If my holiness is not drawing others
to him, it is not the right kind of holiness. It
is only influence which awakens undo emotions and evil desires
in people and diverts them from heading in the right direction. A
person who is a beautiful saint can be a hindrance in leading
people to the Lord by presenting only what Christ has done
for him, instead of presenting Jesus Christ himself. Others
will be left with this thought, ‘What a fine person
that man is’, and if people need us, and that’s
what their opinion is, ‘What a fine person that person
is’ rather than ‘you know, Jesus, this guy talked
about Jesus, this gal talked a lot about Jesus. You
know, Jesus, what about Jesus.’” Another
said, “God loves to see me not his servant but himself
who serves all.” So
does he look and does he see himself in you? Franklin said “The most acceptable
service of God is doing God to man.” That’s
the most acceptable service, working and presenting Jesus
Christ, letting God work through you. So
our prayer, our prayer should be, “Lord,
do what only you can do, so no man can take the glory for
what your great and mighty hand has done.” [I
think of my first pastor and what he taught us. He
said the greatest miracle of God wasn’t the physical
creation of the heavens and earth, but the creation of born-again
believers, the power of God opening one carnal, deceived
mind to the truth of God. Churches
grow by the divine calling power of God’s Holy Spirit
doing only what God can do. All
our human efforts at evangelism, without God, will amount
to nothing. We have to step out of the way and let
God do only what God can do. Another
comment: As this
evil age of man draws to a close, we will find our true Christian
ministries being shut down---we will be forced to “diminish”. Don’t
be discouraged when this “famine of the Word” begins
to occur. Jesus Christ’s 2nd coming
is very near. He
is about to increase in the sight of man, as he returns in
his full brilliance, brighter than the sun. Our John the Baptist works are to herald
the Lord’s soon coming and herald the gospel of salvation
he tried to teach Nicodemus (Matthew 24:14; 28:18-20). Jesus
will let us know when we are finished, when he allows us
to be diminished completely.]
6. Last point: Do
I see the difference between Jesus who came from heaven,
and myself, a mere human?
Let’s
read to the end of the chapter and we’ll make a concluding
point or two. Verses
31-36, “He who comes from above is above all, he who
is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He
who comes from heaven is above all. And
what he has seen and heard, that he testifies and no one
receives his testimony. He who has received his testimony has
certified that God is true. For
he who God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does
not give the Spirit by measure. The
Father loves the Son, and has given all things into his hand. He
who believes in the Son has everlasting life, and he who
does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath
of God abides on him.” So the last point, John had another
perspective, here’s the question. The
last thing to measure my heart by. Do
I see clearly the awesome difference between Christ himself
and a mere earthly person, a mere earthly human, myself? Do
I see the difference between Jesus, he came from heaven,
and myself, just a person, an earthly human? That’s
what he’s saying here in verse 31. He
says ‘He who comes from heaven is above all, Jesus
has come from heaven.’ So naturally, he gets all the glory. Naturally, his ministry, his influence
should be the greatest. I’m
just a little old man. The
best I can do is, you know, be used on one level. But he is
the Son of God. ‘He
who is earthly speaks of the earth, but he who is from above
sees and speaks from that perspective.’ So
he understood the real deal. He
understood where the power came from, and that is what his
perspective is. So
naturally he was willing to decrease, and let Jesus increase. And the same will be true in your life,
and the same will be true in my life. The
more I see Jesus for who he is, the more I just want to get
out of the way. Why
would I possibly want to be in the way? Why
would I possibly want to present myself, my own intuition,
my own abilities, my own reasonings to others, when Jesus
Christ himself, the Son of God wants to minister through
me? Drastically different. I can maybe say something witty, I maybe
can do a little tap dance, but Jesus can work through me
with power, and he can melt a heart, he can make a lasting
impact, he can transform a mind. So why would I want to get in the way? That’s what a servants attitude
should be. Jesus, you know, get me out of the way. And sometimes he’ll get you out
of the way. You
know you’ll get up on Sunday [or Saturday] morning,
and you’ll just stumble through the message. You’re like, ‘Bum deal, that
was embarrassing.’ God
will say ‘I got you out of the way, [chuckles]
so I could work, because Scriptures went forth, and people
were sitting there, and truth hit their mind, and I began to work in their hearts.’ So, well, he says ‘What Jesus has
seen and heard, that he testifies, and no one receives his
testimony.’ Sadly, that’s true in many, many
instances. So “He who has received his testimony has certified that God is true.” When
somebody hears the words of Jesus Christ, and responds to
that, he is then saying, ‘Yes, I do believe that God
is true, and I receive his Word, and now I respond to his
Word and I obey his Word.’ “For whom God has sent speaks the words
of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure.” John the Baptist knew and understood
that as the Son of God, the Spirit was upon him in fullness
without any hindrance, the full deal. And
nobody has really had that experience of having the Holy
Spirit, the full, complete fullness in that sense, in the
sense of what he’s referring to here---that Jesus,
God the Son had the full measure of the Holy Spirit, and
without any limitation whatsoever. “The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into his hand.” And
it’s fitting that we end with verse
36, because maybe some of us are here for just this verse
this morning. “He
who believes in the Son has everlasting life,”---it’s
that simple, if you believe in Jesus, you put your faith
in him, the Bible says you’ll have everlasting life,
life that starts in the here and now, and life that will
continue from this point on [into eternity]. But
there’s no neutrality with Jesus---“but
he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the
wrath of God abides on him.” It’s not just an option, ‘Well,
I can go there or I can stay here, and here isn’t so
bad. If you chose not to, “he who does not believe the Son shall not see life”,
and not only that, “but
the wrath of God abides on him.” John,
the apostle John, doesn’t use that word “wrath” too
often. In fact,
this is the only time he uses it in the Gospels. And then it comes up a number of times
as he writes the book of Revelation. [But
remember, the book of Revelation is the direct revelation
of Jesus Christ, given to John in vision. It
was not Johns words, even, but direct revelation from Jesus.] And that word “wrath”, it
comes up six times in the book of Revelation. And
if you want to understand what that wrath is, you go to the
book of Revelation, and you see that the wrath is that God
is a righteous God who will one day completely destroy sin,
and destroy everything. And
what will remain is that which is in Christ, that which has
been perfected and is in Christ, and has been covered in
his blood. So, verse
36, “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life.”
Are you worthy of being saved?
But there is a question
for those of us that are saved here today, for those of us
who have Jesus in our hearts [by the indwelling of the Holy
Spirit]. You’re
saved, I guess you could ask the question ‘Are you
worthy of being saved? Are
you worth being saved?’ And
here’s a story, Bishop Moore tells a story of a little
boy who was swimming one day in a lake when suddenly he suffered
some type of physical difficulty and could swim no farther. The boy struggled for his life, he had
gone under twice when he felt the strong arm of a man lifting
him. The man had seen little boy’s desperate
plight and had swum out to save him. The
man took the boy safely to shore, and after making certain
that everything was well, turned to leave. The
little boy said ‘Thank you sir for saving my life.’ The
man replied ‘You’re welcome son, see to it that
you are worth saving.’” Bishop
Moore said he has never forgotten those words, for he was
that boy whose life was saved by a man who didn’t even
leave his name. A
good question for the Christian to ask is “Am I worth
saving?” God in Christ has made a large investment
in the life of each of us, and he has every right to expect
a return on his investment. [cf.
see the parable of the pounds.] So
as we read about a servant, a servants heart, in fact, as
we have been saved, our natural response should be ‘God,
you’ve saved me. I
all the more should live for you, and live a life that is
pleasing to you.’
Summary of points
So, six ways
to measure a servants heart. 1.
Am I discouraged by others successes? 2.
Do I live knowing where true goodness and power comes from? 3.
Is my speech consumed with myself, or with Christ? 4. Is my joy, satisfaction based simply
on knowing and hearing Jesus? 5.
Is my heart “He must increase, I must decrease”? 6.
And do I see clearly the awesome difference between Christ
himself and me, just an earthly person? Let’s
close in prayer….[transcript of John 3:22-36, from
a sermon given somewhere in New England.]
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