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.
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?
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 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.
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,
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.
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