John 3:22-36 “He Must Increase”

You are listening to a message from Southwood Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama.

Our passion is to experience and express grace. Join us.

Contrary to popular belief, I am Will Spink. We're often confused when we're out in his will.

Yeah, no, it's a privilege to be here as one of your ruling elders to get to share

God's word with you. So let me pray for that.

And then we will take a look at John chapter 3.

John 3 · chapter mention

Lord, we do thank you that we can surrender all.

And I do thank you for that inscription on the Stony Brook altar as you go there to preach

that says, Sir, we would see Jesus. A reminder of when the Greeks came to hear Christ.

And I pray that now, that we would see Jesus, Lord, that you would

strike a straight blow with this crooked stick.

And I pray it in Christ's name. Amen.

So we are going to continue in John 3, if you have your Bibles.

It might say what page it's on, the Pew Bible, page 887.

And it's John 3, 22, the end, till the end of it, chapter 3.

You know, I love that Will chose the book of John, the gospel of John, to lead us through

this season. I love the book of John.

I love it for several reasons.

I'm going to give you three.

One, it was written by John, John the apostle.

John, who knew Christ better than anyone else on earth.

Arguably his closest friend.

And this friend of Christ writes this about Jesus.

He says at the end, I could have written volumes and volumes and volumes,

but these I've written that you might believe.

So I like it was written by John.

And I like also that as we read it, we find new reason to believe in Christ.

It's written that we might believe.

You can read it in a sitting.

I'd encourage you sometime as we're preaching through this series,

that you sit down and read it for yourself.

Whether you know Christ or not, read it.

See really who he is, as his good friend John writes.

And then also I like that there is the element of light and darkness

throughout the gospel of John.

I'm an imagery guy.

I like to see things.

And that comes out throughout it.

And I like the thought that he brings me out of darkness,

out of darkness into light.

It was funny as I was awakened in the night last night with a stiff neck.

And I thought the Lord was saying, Mark, yield to me.

Don't be stiff necked.

So may that be the case.

Let's read then these verses from John 3, 22 through 36.

After this, Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside

and he remained there with them and was baptizing.

John also was baptizing at Anon and Salem because water was plentiful there

and people were coming and being baptized.

For John had not yet been put in prison.

Now a discussion arose between some of John's disciples and a Jew over purification.

And there came to John and said to him, Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan

to whom you bore witness, look, he is baptizing and all are going to him.

John answered, a person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven.

You yourselves bear me witness that I said, I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.

The one who has the bride is the bridegroom.

The friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice.

Therefore, this joy of mine is now complete.

He must increase, but I must decrease.

He who comes from above is above all.

He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way.

He who comes from heaven is above all.

He bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony.

Whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true.

For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the spirit without measure.

The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand.

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life.

Whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

There's an outline in the bulletin, and I've divided it into four sections.

An ironic opening.

Ironic opening.

Who's who?

Who's who?

Less is more.

And a final warning.

I did talk a little bit about John the Apostle, sometimes called John the Evangelist, because

he said, I wrote these things that you might believe.

And this John is writing about another John, John the Baptist.

John is, we heard earlier in these sermon series, John the Baptist is a prophet, and he's the

greatest prophet of them all.

Jesus said that about him, and it's because of the message that he brings.

He's announcing the Messiah.

Like most prophets, they have a difficult life.

John ate locusts, lived in the desert.

He had a message from God of great hope.

But like most prophets also, it's a double-edged sword.

And so we do close with a warning from John the Baptist.

So this opening, I call it an ironic opening.

The scene is that the disciples of John the Baptist apparently go over to see Jesus and the baptisms

that are going in his area.

And they come back to John.

And as you can see here, it's even exaggerated a bit.

They say, everybody's going to Jesus.

And they're actually upset about it.

And they get into an argument over purification and over baptism, apparently.

Can you see the irony of that?

They're arguing about what Christ is doing and that Christ is increasing.

Have you ever had that in your life where as Christ gets nearer to you,

he calls you to something that, oh no, all of a sudden you feel threatened

that your life might be diminished?

Or he moves in a relationship of friends of yours,

and they're experiencing Christ in a new way,

and it's not good for you, and you feel threatened.

Also, these men, just think about it, you know,

they're hanging around one of the most godly guys of all time,

John the Baptist, and then Jesus himself.

And yet, I don't think they treated each other very well.

So if it can happen to them, it can happen to us.

You know, I'm an elder here, love our brothers,

but do we have conflict, sometimes sharp conflict?

We do.

That's just part of who we are without Christ.

For those of you who pray for us, thank you.

Continue to pray.

And I will brag on our pastor, Will, does an exceptional job

of putting down his agenda.

Our meetings are not always efficient, but they are godly.

And we work it out.

God's economy is on a whole different timetable.

And thank you, Brother Jeremy, for leading us in that today

about rest and quietness.

Let's look at a couple of verses where this was common

to the early church.

In 1 Corinthians 4, 6, and 7,

1 Corinthians 4, 6, and 7, Paul writes,

and again, the same kind of deal about conflict.

I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers,

that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written,

that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another.

You know, there it is, in favor of one against another.

For who sees anything different in you?

What do you have that you did not receive?

If then you received it,

why do you boast as if you did not receive it?

And then we're going to read another section,

a chapter earlier in there.

And again, the antidote will be the same thing.

And I do thank the Lord that whenever he calls us to something,

he doesn't call us to do it by our own grit and willpower,

though there is effort,

but he gives us a power,

a power to suppress the evil and walk in the good.

So even earlier he says this,

for you're still of the flesh.

While there is jealousy and strife among you,

are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?

For when one says,

I follow Paul,

another,

I follow Apollos,

are you not merely being human?

And in this case we see,

you know,

they were following John the Baptist instead of identifying with John and his purposes instead of Christ.

And it's like that in our life,

even in church life.

And I would refer to that as church life,

that they,

anytime a cause,

even a good cause,

if Christ isn't at the heart of it,

might there be selfish ambition and personal gain?

That's often the case for me.

James summarizes it this way.

Who is wise and understanding among you?

By his good conduct,

let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.

That's hard for us,

in the meekness of wisdom.

We want it to be arrogance.

We want it to be boastful.

At least I do.

But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts,

do not boast,

be false to the truth.

This is not the wisdom that comes down from above,

but it's earthly,

unspiritual,

demonic.

For where jealousy and selfish ambition exists,

there will be disorder

in every vile practice.

But the wisdom from above is first pure,

then peaceable,

gentle,

open to reason,

full of mercy and good fruits,

impartial and sincere.

And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace

by those who make peace.

An ironic opening,

conflict amongst the godly,

and a conflict about Jesus rising in importance.

And we'll see how John answers this

and how it'll work out in our hearts.

So that's the opening.

Secondly,

who's who?

Who's who?

So when the disciples come to John,

what does he say to them?

You know,

does he say to them,

look,

I told you guys,

you guys are slipping a lot.

You need to get up a little earlier,

work a little harder.

Your marketing plan is failing.

You need a new marketing plan.

We need some gimmicks out there.

We need to be more efficient.

You guys are missing it.

Of course not.

That would be,

as the British like to say

in their translation of the Bible,

rubbish.

Rubbish.

What does John say?

He says,

who's who?

He says,

I am from the earth.

I speak from the earth,

earthly things.

He's from above.

He's different.

I can,

I have a great calling from the Lord.

I'm bringing Israel to repentance

to get ready to meet the Christ.

A huge,

huge,

huge calling from the Lord.

Very important man of God.

But he says,

compared to Christ,

I am nothing.

I am nothing.

I can't give you anything

that was given,

that wasn't given to me.

But Christ,

he can give you,

and we'll learn next week,

and with the woman at the well,

he can give you wells of salvation

that never run dry.

He can give you life.

Don't compare me to Christ.

There's no comparison.

And then he says these haunting words.

He must increase,

and I must decrease.

He must increase,

and I must decrease.

One quote from D.A. Carson,

there's a great commentary on John.

He says this,

deep discontentment over God's wise,

sovereign disposition of people and things

would in that instance betray

not only unbelief and faithfulness,

but the worst form of the perennial human sin,

arrogance that wants to be God

and stand where God stands.

And we'll talk about that

in a few minutes.

So John sets it straight

on who's who.

And then he talks about less is more.

Less is more.

So how can less be more?

How can making him increase

be of benefit to me?

Or is it?

Is Jesus coming to conquer?

Well, he is.

He is.

When we follow him,

do we follow him in fear?

Well, there is a certain element of fear.

As we read earlier, though,

he says,

come to me,

I am gentle and lowly in heart,

and you'll find rest for your souls.

But we also read where he cleared the temple.

Jesus was the prophet of prophet.

He came with a double-edged sword as well.

But what's it mean, like,

to be,

for him to increase

and for me to decrease in my life?

Does he take over my personality?

Do I become a robot?

Do I only follow him

and him alone

in some ritualistic type of way?

Do we all start to sound the same

as believers,

look the same,

dress the same?

Again,

again,

rubbish.

That is what the enemy

would want you to believe.

But that's not at all Christ.

C.S. Lewis

uses two analogies.

I'm not sure if we have kids here,

but any kids,

you're familiar with

the Chronicles of Narnia?

Anybody?

Any adults familiar with

this Chronicles of Narnia?

Great.

Great series.

Well, this author also

in Mere Christianity

talks about this

and he uses two analogies,

salt and light.

And let me talk about light first.

Let's pretend we're in this room now

and all the lights are out.

It's so dark

that we can't see the hand

in front of our face.

And some voice from above,

probably Will Spink, right?

It says,

I'm going to shine something down

and it's going to reflect back up

so I can see you.

It's going to be the same beam

on each of you

and reflect back up.

Will we all look the same?

Of course not.

The clearer the light,

matter of fact,

the more individualities show up

and our differences,

our uniqueness.

And that's kind of

what it's like in Christ.

We have a certain

gift set personality,

but it only comes

to the true fulfillment in Him.

I think about Christ

who healed a man

with a withered hand,

it said.

I think it was on the Sabbath.

He had a hand.

It was partly functioning,

but Jesus healed it

so it had full functioning.

That's what He wants to do

with us,

with our persons,

to set us free,

to do things

we weren't thinking about doing,

didn't even know

we were capable of doing,

and running from others.

Then He also uses

the analogy of salt.

of salt.

Again,

about how can more,

less of me be more.

So when you put salt on food,

does it make it all

taste like salt?

Does it make it all

taste the same?

No,

it brings out

all the unique flavors

that are in a dish.

That's what salt does.

And having Christ in our life

brings out

those unique gifts

that God put you

in you

and you alone.

and He wants

to bring it out

to advance

His kingdom

for you to bring

justice to the poor,

to bring hope

and light

to people,

to go to,

as we say

in our mission,

the least,

the loneliest,

the littlest,

the left out,

the lonely.

He will change

hearts like mine

to want to do that

instead of to

promote myself.

C.S. Lewis concludes

when he writes about this

in this way,

It is something like that

with Christ in us.

The more we get

what we now call

ourselves

out of the way

and let Him

take us over,

the more truly

ourselves

we become.

There is so much

of Him

that millions

and millions

of little Christs,

all different,

will still be too few

to express Him fully.

He made them all.

He invented,

as an author

invents character,

in a novel,

all the different men

that you and I

were intended to be.

In that sense,

our real selves

are all waiting

for us in Him.

It's no good

trying to be myself

without Him.

D.A. Carson also writes,

John finds joy

not in grudgingly

conceding victory

to a superior opponent,

but in wholeheartedly

embracing God's will

and the supremacy

it assigns to Jesus.

A great deal of later

Christian piety

has turned

on this same truth.

So, we are faced

with that battle,

that challenge

every day.

We've talked about this

some in the

Connect Community

class

that several of us

are teaching,

Kevin, today.

Studying a book

called

The Fight,

a book of Christian

living,

and it talks about

every day

is a fight,

but it's not

a grind

where you have to

win it

with your own

strength,

but it's a victorious

life in Christ

and in Christ alone,

but it's there

every day.

It's there every day.

So, I want to look

some,

a couple of brief

studies

of how the tempter

uses this

over and over

to eclipse Christ

in our life

and make us

promoted,

where we feel

threatened,

like John's disciples,

that Jesus is rising.

He's up in the polls.

I don't know

what's happening.

It's out of control.

I'm going down.

In Isaiah,

there's a chapter

that talks about

what many authors

think is actually

Satan himself.

It's referred to a king,

but I think it's

on several levels.

And this king

wants to exalt himself

to heaven

and in the end

says,

I will be God.

I will be God.

And I think that was

the ultimate fall

of Satan.

He wanted to be

in the place of God,

though he was

an incredible angel

of light,

the Bible says.

And he fell

and he wants to bring

you and me with him.

And he has a fury

about that.

It worked on him

and he wants it

to work on us.

The battle is there

every day.

You can go back

to Genesis, right?

Genesis 3.

The tempting of Eve.

We won't go through it all.

There are three levels there.

You know,

the food was

good for food.

It was beautiful.

But also,

if she took it,

it would make her

like God,

Satan said.

It will make her

like God.

There again is that

so-called perennial sin,

wanting to ascend

to be the Lord.

You know,

you think,

I don't want to be God.

I just want to get my way.

Well,

think of where

that impulse

came from,

ultimately.

And so,

yes,

Satan did

the serpent,

as it says

in the garden,

reach out to Eve

and say,

take it.

And that's

the issue

when we take something

before the time.

You saw in those

answers to John

and also in 1 Corinthians

where there was strife.

They were reminded,

what do you have

that you weren't already given?

What do you have

that you weren't given?

It's when we try

to take it prematurely

that we get into trouble.

And that's time and time

in the Bible.

Fast forward

from Genesis

to Matthew chapter 4,

Matthew 4 · chapter mention

another temptation scene.

This time with Jesus.

And it's the same

playbook for Satan.

He tempted him again

on three levels.

He tempted him

on beauty.

He tempted him

on physical lust.

And then he tempted him

on what's called

the boastful pride of life.

I don't know

what all happened,

but Satan presented

to Christ

all the kingdoms

of the world.

And he presented it

in such a way

that it sure looked

like it was his.

And he said,

I'll give you all this.

This will all be yours.

Just worship me.

Just worship me.

That's the temptation

we always have

about grabbing something

that we think

is rightfully ours

that's not.

The wisdom from above

isn't like that.

It comes in its own time

and it comes peaceably.

Thank God that Jesus

said to him,

get behind me, Satan.

It's written,

you shall worship

the Lord alone.

There was the standard

bearer for us.

Our old elder brother,

he faced that temptation

and he said,

I'll be with you

when you face

that temptation.

We will all be tempted.

That's just the way it is.

That's just life

in the Christian life.

If you're serious

in serving the Lord,

you will be tempted.

But in Christ,

you can have

that victory.

Let's go to 1 John 2.

Again, John,

writing in 1 John,

John, who's the writer

of the gospel,

also wrote three epistles.

And in 1 John,

he says,

for all that is in the world,

the desires of the flesh

and the desires of the eyes

and the pride of life

or boastful pride of life

is not from the Father

but is from the world.

Those three levels.

He'll tempt you

on lust of the flesh,

lust of the eye,

and the pride of life.

It goes from the beginning.

It's going to go on

to the end.

That's our enemy's playbook.

And in Christ,

we can stand up against it.

Matter of fact,

there's an amazing section

we're going to look at now

in Philippians 2

where we can look at

the very thoughts

of Jesus Christ

when he was a man.

Very amazing section

of scripture.

I commend it to you

to meditate on

in contrast

to how we often

find ourselves.

Have this mind

among yourselves

which is yours

in Christ Jesus

who though he was

in the form of God

did not count

equality with God

a thing to be grasped

but emptied himself

by taking the form

of a servant

being born

in the likeness

of men

and being found

in human form

he humbled himself

by becoming obedient

to the point of death

even death on a cross.

therefore

God has highly exalted him

and bestowed on him

the name

that is above every name

so that at the name

of Jesus

every knee should bow

in heaven

and on earth

and under the earth

and every tongue

confess

that Jesus Christ

is Lord

to the glory

of God the Father.

Can you kind of see that

going through

Christ's mind

as he's faced

with Satan

Satan offers him

all the kingdoms

of the world?

No, he humbles himself.

He doesn't grasp it.

He humbles himself

and then

in God's good time

he exalts him.

He has spiritual victory.

So an ironic opening

who's who

less is more

and finally

a final warning.

the last few verses

of John 3

are not

John the Baptist

but it goes back

to John the Evangelist

and he says

things about

the wrath of God.

He says

whoever believes

in the Son

has eternal life

but whoever

rejects the Son

will not see life

for God's wrath

remains on him.

God's wrath

remains on him.

You know

often

and before

I knew Christ

I didn't feel

God's wrath

was on me.

Maybe occasionally

maybe guilty feelings

but we can't trust

our conscience

without the Spirit

leading it.

It can be false

but the wrath of God

remains on them.

I look at it like this

in 2 Thessalonians

it talks about

the coming of the Lord.

You know

he came as a servant

he's going to come again

to set all things right

to set up

his kingdom

on earth

and it says

we know what

restrains

his wrath

right now

and one day

that will be

taken away

and it'll be

a terrific scene

it'll be a terrible scene.

It's

it's like

in physics

where

in the universe

you know

if the right potential

builds up in the skies

lightning strikes

lightning just strikes

it's just

that's how it is.

One day Christ

will return

he will take

his presence

away from this earth

and automatically

God's wrath

will occur.

It's being restrained

it's God's grace

that we're hearing

this message today

it's God's grace

that I believe

that Jesus

is the Christ

and

if you don't know

the Christ

there is a consequence

for not following Christ

it's not like

choosing your

candidate to vote for

once confronted

with Christ

you have a decision

to make

not to make a decision

is to make a decision

and the wrath

of God

friends

John the Baptist

says

or John the Apostle

in this case

rests on you

that's an awesome thought

you know

we often

go to the doctor

thinking

I'm fine

I feel fine

well

is that what

the results show

when they look

inside you

one day

the spirit

will show

the secrets

of our heart

by God's grace

may we abide

in Christ

and may we

experience

that victory

and be covered

from our sin

by the Lord

so we talked

about

the Aaronic

opening

who's who

less is more

and the final

warning

and I do

want to say

that at

the end

if anybody

would like

to discuss

more about

Christ

the person

of Christ

who he is

or get to know

him more

or have discussion

I'll be up front

Jeremy probably

will too

and we would love

that as well

thank God

for his

indescribable grace

amen

for more information

visit us online

at southwood.org

iyi