Knowing God and Knowing Who You Are — John 3

0:00 We're gonna continue with John chapter three. Everybody's very familiar with the first part of John when he meets up with Nicodemus and they have that conversation, but the second part of the gospel of John, people really are not too familiar with it. So why don't we read John 22 through 36? Everybody there? The gospel of John 22 to 36.

0:26 After these things, Jesus and his disciples came into the land of Judea, and there was spending time with them and baptizing. And John also was baptizing in Aeon near Salim because there was much water there, and they were coming and were being baptized, for John had not yet been thrown in prison. There arose, therefore, a discussion on the part of John's disciples with a with a Jew about purification. And they came to John and said to him, Rabbi, he was with you beyond the Jordan to whom you have borne witness. Behold, he is baptizing and all are coming to him.

1:09 John answered and said, a a man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. You yourselves bear witness that I said I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him. He who has the bride is a bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. And so this joy of mine has been made full. He must increase, but I must decrease.

1:44 He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth is from the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. What he has seen and heard and that he... Of that he bears witness and no man receives his witness.

2:03 He who has received his witness has his seal to this, has set a seal to this that God is true. For he who God has sent speaks to words of God, for he gives the spirit without measure. The father loves the son and has given all things into his hand. He who believes in the son has eternal life, but he who does not obey the son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides in him. Amen.

2:35 Father, bless your word as we consider it in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. What I'm gonna do is is I'm gonna read this portion to you now using a a... What I call a a paraphrase.

2:50 And paraphrase basically means that someone read this, and then they they worded it in a way where probably you can grasp it a little bit better. Alright? So we just read that, and I'm not sure how much you you could understand or capture, but let's see if this makes a little more sense to you as we're... Well, before that, the the title of this study is transition, knowing God and knowing who you are, and it'll make a little more sense to you in a minute. But let's let's look at this passage from from this point of view, and I'm gonna get it up here a little closer to me so I can see it.

3:30 Okay. It's it's up on the screen too, but I'm gonna read it. And let's see if it makes a little more sense if we read it from from this perspective. Master, the man you met on the other side of the Jordan River, the one you said was the Messiah, he is baptizing too, and everybody is going over there to him instead of coming here to us. It kinda flows a little better.

4:06 You yourselves know how plainly I told you that I am not the Messiah. I am here to prepare the way for him. That is that is all. The crowd will naturally go to the main attraction. The bride will go where the bridegroom is.

4:22 I am the bridegroom's friend, and I am filled with joy at his success. He must increase, and I must decrease. He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less. He has come from heaven and is greater than anyone else. I am of the earth, and my understanding is limited to the things of the earth.

4:45 He tells me what he has seen and heard, but but how few believe what he tells them? Those who believe him discover that God is a fountain of truth. For this one speaks God's words. For God's spirit is upon him without measure or limit. The father loves this man because he is his son, and God has given him everything there is.

5:11 And all who trust him, God's son, to save them have eternal life. Those who don't believe and obey him shall never see heaven, but the wrath of God remains upon them. Wow. That's that's a a powerful portion of scripture. One of my my favorites.

5:31 And I'll say to you that as I was considering this, I I have actually preached this sermon, this this particular text a couple of times in in the past, but I wanted to have a fresh fresh approach to it. And so as I kept looking at it and asking the Lord for insight, the Lord spoke to me in a powerful way, and I realized this section is all about transition. And I was thinking, you know, when when you see a little baby, an infant, he transitions into a toddler. He starts crawling, running around, breaking everything. Right?

6:05 And then all of a sudden, he... Then he becomes a boy, and, you know, boys are knocking over old ladies and and stuff like that. Right? And so... And then then they become a a teenager.

6:18 They start growing hair and and getting smelly and and all that kind of stuff. And then they become young adults, and then they get then they get married if that's what God has for them. And then they become father and mother. I'm remembering all this of, you know, my life growing up. All of sudden, had little ones and we're parents, and and next thing you know, you look in the mirror and there's a bunch of gray stuff, and you're a grandpa.

6:44 Right? You you transition again. And then all of sudden, you get to the old age stage. Right? And my dad used to tell me twenty years ago, don't ever laugh at an old person because sooner or later, you're gonna be there.

6:56 And then he... We were talking a couple of days ago, he tells me, hey. Guess what, son? I'm there. Right?

7:02 I'm an old man. I can't I can hardly function anymore. But that's that's that's the way life is. It's transitions. Everything is gonna be that way.

7:12 There... There's other transitions that are especially hard. For example, you you watch the sports players, you know, young, vigorous, doing all kinds of things that suddenly they get to an age when they say, oh, he's starting to lose it. Then they put him on the bench. He has to transition off the bench.

7:28 Then after a while, he's like, hey. Guess what? We're gonna cut you. You don't have it anymore. Right?

7:32 And so you get demoted, and you have to pretty much stop stop playing sports because your body can't handle it. And there's another transition that happens many times. You work your way up the ladder, but times change, and the company has to shut its doors because things things didn't work out. And next thing you know, you're you're you're back to point zero. Right?

7:54 And that's a terrible transition. A lot of you have been there. Right? And it seems like everything you work for is out the door. You you get demoted because someone else gets elevated, and then you have to transition again and adjust to this change.

8:40 They depress you sometimes. Right? And so let... Let's understand a little bit more more about John the Baptist before we continue. Now John the Baptist was was today's modern, you know, Billy Graham, Tony Evans, John McCartney, you know, where where, man, they had this prominent ministry that had a huge following.

9:02 And you have to understand that John the Baptist was respected and admired by all the people at his time... Of his time. The crowd would come, and they would line up for blocks to hear him. And as he preached, people would respond to his preaching. And there he is baptizing, and people lined up asking him questions.

9:20 And you can see that unfolding in the gospels. And so so John the Baptist had a huge ministry. It was also said, prophesied of him in Isaiah and Malachi that that he was gonna be the forerunner of Jesus. He was gonna be the one that would get everybody ready to receive Jesus when he was gonna come. And so he was doing that.

9:39 He was prophesying. It was talked about in the old testament. A very, very well known man prophesied. In fact, it says in Luke chapter one and verse 15 that he was full of the holy spirit inside of his mother. How in the world does that happen?

9:55 Right? I mean, here we are as believers growing up and asking the holy spirit to fill us, and we can't seem to accomplish that. And this dude inside of mama before he even came out already was full of the holy spirit. Just just believe the word of God. How did that happen?

10:10 I have no clue. But that's what the bible says. Luke one fifteen, read it. Right? And so inside of his mother, here he had the holy spirit.

10:19 He was full of the holy spirit. In fact, in Matthew, just to give you an idea, you don't don't go there. Just listen. Matthew chapter one... I'm sorry, chapter 11 and verse 11.

10:29 This is what Jesus said about John the Baptist. He said this, truly I say to you, among those born of a woman, there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist. What? You mean he was greater than Moses and greater than Abraham and greater than Isaiah and and greater than Jeremiah and greater... All these great men of God.

10:52 That's exactly what Jesus said. He represented the the the old guard, the prophets, the old testament. And Jesus said, this guy, nobody was greater. I mean, you imagine Jesus saying that about you? I mean, so this guy, you have to understand where he was at.

11:09 He was in a in a prominent place. You couldn't get any higher accolades than what this guy had and accomplishments and what he would... Had done in his life. But suddenly, it was time for him to to get out of the way. John John's striving ministry was beginning to fade, and now Jesus was coming up.

12:12 You wanna put another way, you can say, hey, man. He's stealing your disciples. People are stopped... Are not following you anymore. They are gravitating towards him.

12:22 He's drawing other crowds. Of course, right here was was a perfect moment for John to get a little jealous, to get a little depressed, to start thinking, man, what's going on? Am I starting to fail? Am I losing it? Right?

12:36 So that's that's the way we feel, and and we react to transitions many times, to to things that happen to us in life. And you start feeling sorry for yourself, especially all of us men who who are in the fifties now. Right? You can you can look back and say, man, what have I accomplished in my life? Where am I at?

12:56 And same thing with the women. Right? You you get to a certain point. It's like, man, did did I did I gain anything for all the efforts, everything I put, all my convictions, everything that I strive for? And so there's John, the...

13:09 This great man of God with this great following. His disciples were so loyal to him that says, hey, this Messiah guy, he's taking your disciples. But every every believer has this as his goal, that people go to Jesus. That people go to Jesus. Right?

13:28 And some... Somebody came and and said to me, hey. You know, I I heard you can help me. I said, no. No.

13:35 I I I can't help you, but I can point you to the one that can help you, to to the lord Jesus. He's the one that can help you. Now the the next thing we're gonna look at is this, seven powerful statements. John the Baptist said, well, you can actually pull about ten ten or 11 things up, but I chose to focus on seven. Seven seems to be like a core number.

14:01 Right? The the the perfect number and all that. So I went with seven, but you can probably pull 10 out of there. But he said seven statements that are powerful that I hope will help you in your life, That help you in your life. If if you can grasp these seven things, God God...

14:19 You'll be blessed. You'll have peace in yourself, and you'll be blessed. Okay? Now the first thing that we need to understand that I needed to understand is this very statement, and underline it in your bible if you want. Alright?

14:36 And here it is. A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him. God appoints each man's work, if you will. No man can lay claim to anything unless it has been given to him from heaven. Wow.

14:52 Listen. If every one of us here can grasp this truth, if you can understand it and believe it and you can... And live it out, you'll be at peace with yourself. Half of the half of the nightmares that you have and the depression that we get will go away if you can understand this fundamental truth that everything that we have is a gift from God. And John never let his popularity, his ministry, the the power of his voice get to his head to where when he was starting to fade away, it got to him because he realized one thing.

15:24 If if I have this ministry, because God gave it to me. I didn't impress him. I didn't earn it. It was a gift from God. I was prophesying from way back, and so I'm just doing what God has me to do.

15:37 And what a relief when we understand this. He was a very humble man. He understand that he was just given this ministry, and his time was coming to an end. First Corinthians four seven puts it this way. What do you have that you did not receive?

15:54 What do you have that you not receive? But if you did receive it, why do you boast? He's talking to the Corinthians. I'm not saying that to you as if you had not received it. Hudson Taylor puts it this way in his...

16:09 One of his writings. God was looking for a little man, little enough so that he could show himself strong through him. A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him. I have nothing. I am nothing unless God decides to give it to me.

16:27 It is not who I am or what I can do, rather it's what God wants to do through me. Do you have intelligence? Many of you here are very brilliant. It's from God. Are are you successful?

16:41 It's from God. Have you accomplished much? It's only because God allowed it. It's from God. What if you were special needs?

16:50 Then what? What if God, you know, created you without the intelligence needing help? So we have nothing to boast about. What if you were involved in an accident and suddenly you... You're not able to function like you used to and you can't be the president of the company anymore?

17:11 Everything's a gift. Every good gift come from above, from from god of heaven. And and and so this morning, we need to understand this basic truth that John grasped so deeply that a man can do nothing unless it's given to him from god. Doctor Benko, the leader of Salvation Army, very popular man at his time, said this because people respected him almost to the point where they were almost reverencing him. Here's what he wrote.

17:41 If I appear great in their eyes, the Lord is most graciously helping me to see how absolutely nothing I am without him and helping me to keep little in my own eyes. He does use me, but I am so concerned that he uses me and that it is not of me the work is done. The axe cannot boast of the trees it has cut down. It can do nothing if not for the woodsman. He made it, he sharpens it, he used it, and the moment he throws aside the axe, it becomes only an old iron.

18:15 Oh, that I may never lose sight of this. Wow. Chuck Swindoll in in his book, The Grace Awakening, coming at it from a different perspective says this, if you and I have souls that are unconquerable, the sky's the limit. If we really are our own master and captain, watch out world. What seems so right is in fact heresy.

18:41 The the one I consider the most dangerous heresy on earth. And what is it? The emphasis on what we do for God instead of what God does for us. And so what what what a powerful statement. A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from God.

19:27 And so this joy of mine has been made full. Just picture a wedding. There's a wedding going on right now, and and it's full of people. And here comes the the bride the bride, you know, and and the bridegroom's up here. And they come to the front, and all of a sudden, one of the the guys standing there...

19:45 What do you call those guys? I I went blank. The groom... The the groomsmen. One of the groomsmen is very popular and funny, and he starts talking.

19:54 All of sudden, everybody ignores the couple, and they start looking at this guy. And he's entertaining the crowds, and and and so all the focus gets away from from the bridegroom. Right? There's something wrong with that picture. So John says, just picture this.

20:11 We're at a wedding. Here comes the bridegroom, Jesus. Everybody's looking at him. It's all about the... Him and what he's doing.

20:21 And I get so excited as I see him doing his work. That's what he's saying. So here's the correct picture. John was in the background watching Jesus do his work. He was healing, forgiving, changing people, and they were following him.

20:38 They were worshiping him. They were acknowledging him, and he was so full of joy as he was seeing this unfold. And so he says, that's the point. He's the bridegroom. All the focus is on him.

20:51 And so as I put it on the... I was quoting Ryrie here, as a bridegroom Christ must occupy the prominent place. Just hearing his voice fills me with joy. And every believer who's growing in Christ gets excited when Jesus is the focus. Amen?

21:10 Amen. So then he says, this verse right here, I memorized it a long time ago, and I had to say it to myself constantly because I forget. I forget. He must increase, but I must decrease. He must become greater and greater, but I must get out of the way.

21:31 This is the ultimate goal of every believer, to point everyone to Christ so that he is ever increasing and being exalted. The main point of Christianity is Jesus Christ who is lord of all to be worshiped. If I come to church and Jesus was preached and believed and received and worshiped and honored and acknowledged as the only true God, then I go home blessed. If Christ crucified, buried, resurrected, and exalted to the heavens is preached, then I go home blessed. You see?

22:04 Because that's that's the whole reason that that we come here so that Jesus can be exalted and preached. Hudson Taylor, again, missionary to China, before he was gonna speak, was introduced as an illustrious guest that bothered him. So before he spoke, he said this, I'm a little servant of an illustrious master. See, I have to get out of the way, and it has to be about Jesus. This has to be about God.

22:33 It's not about people looking at me and admiring me or any of us, but but it has to be about Jesus. Robert Morrison, again, a missionary to China, as they were... He was observing the work over there said this, the great thought, I think, in our mission is that no one likes to be second. The world has yet to see what could happen if everyone lost the desire to get the glory. Wouldn't it be a marvelous place if nobody cared who got the credit?

23:03 End quote. So as long as Jesus is exalted and increasing, who cares who gets the credit? He must increase, and I must decrease. He must be growing in my life and being the center point, and I must get out of the way. He says another great truth, and that's this.

23:40 He's not like like all the other religious figures that were born of a woman and a man, but he came from heaven. And the Holy Spirit placed the the seed inside of the woman so he can develop and and be a man, but without any influence on man. He actually came from heaven and was put in by the holy spirit. And so Colossians puts it this way, for by him, Jesus Christ, all things were created both in heaven and earth. All things have been created by him and for him.

24:12 He is before all things, and in him, all things hold together. So what the text is saying is that he holds the universe and keeps it functioning. He came from heaven because he's God. What an understanding. Okay.

24:30 This Jesus is is God man. And when I look at Jesus, I humbly bow before his majesty. His sheer presence is too great for us to capture. The mere mention of his name sent men falling backwards in John. In the gospel of John, we'll see it later on as we we get there.

24:51 In the Bible, we see men falling down when they see Jesus. So are you receiving his witness? Notice what the text says. He's above all. He who is on earth is from the earth.

25:07 It speaks of things of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. He's God. What he has seen and heard of that, he bears witness, and no man receives his witness. He who has received his witness has set the seal...

25:22 His seal to this that God is true. So have you acknowledged that he comes from heaven and that he's God? If you have, then you're gonna say this next statement that God is true. That God is true. Romans three four puts it this way.

25:42 Let God be true, and all men be liars. John fourteen six, Jesus said, I am the truth. John one fourteen, and the word Jesus became flesh, a man, and dwelt among us, and we build... Beheld his glory, glory as his only begotten of the father, full of grace and truth. John one seventeen, grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.

26:07 And he says to those who didn't believe this truth in John eight forty four, you are above your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature for he is a liar and the father of lies. So the devil and men are considered liars, but God is the truth. Have you acknowledged this as well?

26:41 That God is true. His witness is true. He he is the only truth. That is Jesus Christ. The the next thing that John was able to realize is this, that he was full of the Holy Spirit.

26:57 Jesus said, there's there's only one unforgivable sin. One sin that won't be forgiven. In Matthew thirteen thirty one through 32, he said it's this, that when I'm doing my work, when I remove a demon from a person, when I heal somebody, whenever I do anything miraculous and show my signs, it's the holy spirit working through me to perform this. God is working through me, and I'm doing these powerful things. But the pharisees, the religious sector that were rejected, Jesus said, no.

27:30 You're not doing that by the holy spirit. You're doing that by a power of a demon. You're doing that empowered by Satan. And Jesus said, whoever says that has gone too far. That person can no longer be forgiven for all eternity.

27:47 And so this is such an important statement. Jesus was empowered by the Holy Spirit. He was full of the Holy Spirit. In everything he did, the spirit led him. And so Jesus then was full of the Holy Spirit.

28:40 Now this is basically the gospel. The fact that we were all born in sin means that we were conceived in sin, means that you don't have to go and commit a sin to be a sinner. You're already... The minute you're born, well, the minute you were created, conceived, you already had sin. Consequently, because of sin, the wrath of God is upon you.

29:04 So what does this teach us? It teaches that God is holy, and he cannot tolerate sin. And whenever you have sin in your life, then God's wrath, God's anger is upon you. And what removes that anger of God from you? The...

29:17 Only Jesus Christ can. And so what the Bible teaches very plainly is that Jesus became a curse for us. The the wrath of God fell upon Jesus, so it wouldn't fall upon you. And so when you believe that truth that Jesus was a substitute for sin, he took your place. The wrath of God was on him, and he was punished in your place.

29:40 When you believe that, then you're given eternal life. But if you choose to say, I don't believe that. I'm gonna do my own thing. I don't want to believe that Jesus, you know, took the wrath and... For me, and you you continue in unbelief, then the Bible says clearly within the wrath of God is still upon you, Which means this, that the moment you die, you are eternally separated from God.

30:10 That that that is the core teaching of the Bible. The the moment you die without having believed in Jesus Christ and obeyed him as it says in the text, then you won't see life. And and that's the truth that we can ignore or try not to say because that that... That's that's fundamental to you understanding that God is reaching out to you and saying that if you believe this truth of who Jesus is, you will have eternal life. It's a promise from God.

30:41 But if you reject it, then you choose to to have the wrath of God upon you. I'm gonna read for... From acts seventeen thirty and thirty one. Just listen. Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to all men everywhere that they should repent because he has fixed the day in which he would judge the world in righteousness through a man, Jesus, who he has appointed and having furnished proof to all men by raising him from the dead.

31:16 So in other words, what he's saying is there's a day coming when Jesus is going to judge everyone. We're all gonna stand before him. He fixed the day that's coming. And every man is gonna stand before Jesus, the the righteous one who rose from the dead, and whoever does not have him as savior will be eternally condemned. You see, if you can understand these things, your your life will be blessed.

31:47 If you can understand these seven points, these these statements that John said, your life will be free, and god will use you in a powerful way. So let's just review them. Where where are you at with this? A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him. And I guess the reason we get so frustrated and depressed is because we still have yet to grasp this truth that everything's a gift of God.

32:15 And sometimes God chooses to remove it from us and humble us. That's his choice. It all depends on how you look at life. Is it something you earned or something God gave you? And secondly, he's gonna occupy the prominent place, a proper walk with God.

32:36 The... A growing Christian who's mature in his faith and developing has this that Jesus has to be the focal point. It takes a step further. He must be increasing, and I must be decreasing. People had to be looking to Jesus and not to me.

32:53 And then he goes to the next one, which says, he comes from heaven. He's he's from above. In other words, he's fully God. Have you understood this truth? And he's he's God, and so he's true.

33:08 He's full of the Holy Spirit. And whoever believes in the son has eternal life. What a powerful message from John the Baptist. What tremendous truth he laid out for us. And if we can grasp this, I'm telling you, life will be free.

33:27 Your life will be free of of so much of anxiety, so much depression, so much jealousy, so much comparison, so many things that that bring us down. John was diminishing. He was losing. He was transitioning, and he could look at it with a proper perspective. The greatest transition that you need to have is a transition of having new birth.

33:53 You must be born again. Jesus said it. And if you're not born again, you're not going to heaven. That's the greatest transition of all, being born again. Amen.

34:05 Father, we thank you so much. We thank you so much for John the Baptist. No wonder you thought so highly of him. He had a deep understanding of you, and he can respond properly to his demotion, to the fact that he was fading away, that his time was up, and it was time for Jesus to take over. What an example.

34:34 And, Lord, again, we pray that if there's still a person here who has yet to repent and turn to Jesus, that they would do it today. Pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.