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John • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 1 viewHow we live and what we say should always point to Jesus.
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Transcript
In the Old Testament, we recall a passing of the mantle or baton of ministry from one prophet to another. The one which readily comes to mind is that of Elijah to Elisha. Interestingly, according to the Bible, Elisha did even more than Elijah did. However, they were both simply servants of God; merely people on this planet who were obedient to God's calling.
In John chapter 3, verses 22 through 36, we see another major passing of the mantle. Here, we see a definite transition from John the Baptist preparing the way for Jesus, to the time when Jesus takes over to do His Father’s will. There is also another transition which was about to take place, though not immediately. The Gospels are a part of the Old Testament time period. The transition was from the Law to what we often refer to as the age of Grace, which really did not begin until Pentecost.
Sadly, just as we see today, the focus was often on the external activities rather than what was taking place in the heart. The law was designed to show people their need for God. However, there were many trying in their own strength to follow the law in order to get to heaven. Yet, we know that all the rules and regulations could never attain salvation. Even in the book of Hebrews, chapter 8, we know that the law was not to be permanent, but was going to fade away to the new covenant and its superiority.
So in these verses which we’ll be looking at today, we're going to be looking specifically at the transition from the Ministry of John the Baptist to the Ministry of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This would also symbolize a transition from the old covenant to the new covenant. We even see this from the prophecy Zacharias made in Luke 1.67-79, as he quotes several prophecies about the coming Messiah, which he was seeing right then.
Let me challenge us to heed the basic principle of always keeping the focus on Jesus. How we live and what we say should always point to Jesus.
That is exactly what we’ll be doing this morning; pointing to Jesus in three different areas.
We Point to Jesus while Doing His Calling. - 3.22-24
We Point to Jesus while Doing His Calling. - 3.22-24
After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He was spending time with them and baptizing. John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there; and people were coming and were being baptized—for John had not yet been thrown into prison.
The first phrase of verse 22 (after these things) is basically letting us know, that after the Passover, Jesus and his disciples left the city of Jerusalem and went out to the countryside in Judea.
Why would Jesus leave the most religious and influential place at that time? The next part of the phrase states that He left to spend time with them with John as he was baptizing. Though Jesus did not personally baptize anyone, his disciples did under his authority. The phrase for spending time is a Greek word that implies that there was a lengthy time, probably several months involved. Thus, it seems logical for us to assume that Jesus had also done much preaching and teaching during that time.
We see that John and Jesus were ministering during the same time. John, however, was continuing his ministry in another location, most likely farther north.
It seems somewhat humorous to us that the Apostle John would write the little parenthetical note that John the Baptist had not yet been thrown into prison since he was obviously baptizing people. Because Matthew, Mark, and Luke do not talk about this timeframe, we can probably assume that this took place after Jesus had been in the wilderness being tempted by Satan and before John the Baptist had been put into prison.
So it seems obvious to us, that based on what we have read earlier about John the Baptist’s ministry, that he was all about presenting Jesus to the people. But now Jesus is here and doing ministry. Is that going to present any problems or conflicts? As we’ll see in the next verses, it should not cause any problems.
We Point to Jesus while Deflecting Attention. - 3.25-30
We Point to Jesus while Deflecting Attention. - 3.25-30
Therefore there arose a discussion on the part of John’s disciples with a Jew about purification. And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified, behold, He is baptizing and all are coming to Him.” John answered and said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven. You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent ahead of Him.’ He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made full. He must increase, but I must decrease.”
As these two ministries are going on at the same time, we see that there was a Jew who had some questions for John about ritual purification. John's disciples expressed a concern, probably wondering if there was a competition between John and Jesus. To us in the 21st-century, it would probably seem obvious that those following Jesus would be increasing while John's followers would be decreasing. In fact, John himself speaks of this a bit later. His disciples seem to be using a little bit of hyperbole when they state that all are coming to him, referring to Jesus. Of course, that could not be true since they were still baptizing. Also, it seems that they still did not understand the purpose of John’s ministry, which was pointing the people to Jesus.
What a wonderful picture of a godly response by John the Baptist. He was not troubled or bent out of shape or frustrated by the fact that more people were going to Jesus than were coming to him. John the Baptist’s whole focus had been to testify about Jesus Christ. He let his disciples know that he understood his lesser role. In fact, this lesser role had been given to him from God.
This thinking and understanding would be well for many in ministry to imitate today. Everything that we are allowed to do in our service for God is a gift from Him. And if someone else has a seemingly more powerful or dynamic ministry, we should never be jealous. John MacArthur, in his book dealing with pastoral ministry, states, "the measure of success for any ministry is not how many people follow the minister, but how many people follow Christ through the minister."
John the Baptist goes on to explain that he is not the bridegroom, but rather he is a friend of the bridegroom. The friend’s responsibility is to take care of various details. Once the details are all taken care of, his job is finished. The focus is no longer on the best man, or the friend of the bridegroom, but rather on the bridegroom himself.
It is also fascinating to see that John states that [his joy] has been made full. As the people were leaving him to follow after Christ; that reality gave John great joy. For any of us who shares and teaches God's Word in any fashion, it should bring us joy when people are following Jesus. If that means that they will no longer be under our care and they go elsewhere to serve Christ, that should not matter.
So, as we point people to Jesus, while doing His calling and deflecting attention from ourselves onto Him, should we then just roll over and go to sleep? Should we stop doing what we’ve been doing? I believe the next few verses show the exact opposite.
We Point to Jesus as the Only One to follow. - 3.31-36
We Point to Jesus as the Only One to follow. - 3.31-36
“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, of that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony. He who has received His testimony has set his seal to this, that God is true. For He whom God has sent speaks the 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 will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
These verses appear to be the last time in which John gave a speech. In this speech, we see several reasons why one should accept the absolute supremacy of Christ.
In the first part, we see a phrase that Jesus himself gave and we will see repeated various other times in this Gospel. That is the phrase, from above. Interestingly, it is the same phrase that many Bible versions translate in John 3.3, 7, as born again. Here, in this context, it is obvious that He who comes from above is above all; in other words, He is over all the universe and over all humanity. John places himself at the opposite end of the spectrum. He knows that he is of the earth. He knows he has limitations. Even though he was a powerful speaker and preacher, he was still a man sent from God, according to chapter 1.6. Whatever John had to say was good and right. However, because Jesus came from heaven Himself, the truth Jesus spoke carried more weight.
Verse 32 tells us that Christ, who is truth, knows truth completely. In other words, Jesus did not learn truth from someone else. Because he is truth, anything he says is greater than what any human might say. The tragedy would be that humanity would not accept what Jesus had to say. There is implied in this phrase a willful rejection of Jesus’ truth.
Verse 33 lets us know that what Christ had to share was not only truth, but it was truth which was in full agreement with God the Father. Even though the majority of the people would not accept the message of Jesus, there would be some who would accept it. And for those who would accept the message which Jesus shared, they were promised eternal life.
There is a phrase used in verse 33, "set his seal," which is a sign of complete acceptance and approval. In other words, those who received His testimony, fully accepted the teachings which Jesus gave. We might wonder why this is important. One reason which I believe this to be important and somewhat obvious, is the contradiction of some who state that they believe in God while refusing to accept Jesus Christ. Throughout Scripture, it is made obvious and clear that you cannot believe in the Father and yet not believe in the Son.
Verse 34 shows us that the Holy Spirit's power in Jesus was unlimited. In the Old Testament, prophets were empowered and inspired by the Holy Spirit to speak on behalf of God. However, because the Spirit was working with finite, human beings, there were limitations because of their sinful natures. It was not so with Christ. Whenever Jesus spoke, He spoke without any error; and He spoke the exact words which God wanted him to speak. The Spirit of God was not limited by any sinful nature in Jesus Christ.
Finally, in verses 35 and 36, we see that the Father had given all Authority to Jesus. And as a result of all of this, John once again reminds the people that Jesus Christ can give eternal life for all who will believe in Him. Very simply, the one who believes in the Son has eternal life. This is not something for the sweet by and by; it is for today. Likewise, the Bible states that the one who does not obey the Son will not see life.
Interestingly, this looks to be a contradiction. To have eternal life one must believe. In order not to have eternal life, one would simply not obey the Son. Does that mean that works is involved? Not at all! You see, if a person believes in Jesus Christ, they will have a desire to be obedient. Yet for those who refuse to surrender to the Son, there is condemnation. Sadly, this condemnation is also not just for the sweet by-and-by, long down the road. Yes, there will be that ultimate judgment of God's wrath in hell. However, this states very clearly that those who are disobedient and have chosen to not believe are already condemned right now. The only way out is to place their faith in Jesus Christ to deliver and free them from their sin.
Reflections
Reflections
This section of scripture has shown us an interesting transition period. Many people had placed their faith in themselves and in following the Law. Sadly, it was a misplaced trust. John the Baptist was making it clear that people needed to repent of their sins and turn to Jesus Christ and believe in Him in order to be saved. John did not simply say these things; he lived them. He was constantly pointing people to Jesus. It was never about him.
It seems fairly simple and obvious what this is saying to us today for application. For those who do not yet know Jesus Christ, you must repent of your sins and accept and believe in Jesus Christ.
For you and I, as followers of Jesus Christ, we must continually proclaim this good news. At the same time, we must also proclaim the reality that without Jesus, people are without hope and are already condemned.
We, as followers of Jesus Christ, should be ever so diligent to make sure that we are living and serving in ways that glorify Jesus Christ. It is never about our recognition or our being honored or our glory. It must always be about Jesus. How we live and what we say should always point to Jesus.
