John's Witness - Jesus is Greater part 2

Take your Bible this morning and turn to John chapter 3. John chapter 3. And we will be in verses 31 through 36. And this is the continuation of a portion of scripture that we started last Sunday morning. We were in verses 22, starting in verses 22 down to verse 30 last Sunday morning. But all of this goes together. This is one continuous message from John the Baptist. And I have titled this message, all of these texts, verse 22 to 20, excuse me, verse 22 to 36. John's witness, Jesus is greater. John's witness, Jesus is greater. We had part one last week, and we will finish these verses with part two this morning.

Now, when we wrapped up last Sunday's message, Sunday morning's message, I gave you some information that D.A. Carson gave us, gave me, and I thought it was very good, and I want to revisit that. Carson helped us to see how Christ, now listen, eclipses all that we have seen in the Gospel of John. We saw in chapter 1, verses 1 through 11, that Jesus surpasses all of Judaism. What do we see in chapter 1, verse 1? In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Who is that? That is Christ. And all through those verses, what is John doing?

He is showing that Jesus, God in the flesh, has surpassed and surpasses all of Judaism. We saw second that Jesus replaces the temple. In chapter 2, starting in verse 12, especially verse 13, all the way to verse 25, remember there was this great, hectic, almost chaotic event there at the Passover when Jesus comes, and he cleanses, and he clears out the temple. And what does he say? "Destroy this temple, and I will rebuild it in three days." What is he saying? He is talking about His flesh, His body. And in that, we see that Jesus replaces the very temple that the Jews revered and looked at. Remember?

That was the place where the very presence of God dwelled. And what does Jesus do? He comes along and he says, "Listen, the Spirit of God dwells in me. We don't need that temple anymore." And the third thing, Jesus fulfills all of the prophecies concerning the coming Messiah, especially in chapter 3, in verses 1 through 21, where Jesus is talking to Nicodemus, and he's quoting so many Old Testament references, and when Jesus says that you must be born of water and the Spirit, Nicodemus, being an Old Testament scholar, would have known that he was referring to so many different Old Testament passages, and Jesus fulfills those passages.

And then right here, we have this pinnacle because John comes along and he says, "Jesus is even greater than me." And that's what we saw starting in verse 22. And John said things like this, "He must increase and I must decrease." He said, "A man can only receive what is given to him from heaven. I am not the Christ." So what do we see? Jesus is greater. And John's witness really is a pinnacle of John showing that Jesus is greater, starting in chapter 1, verse 1, all the way through to the end, chapter 3. We're seeing all through this Gospel that Jesus is greater.

Now, as we transition into these verses, verse 31 to verse 36, there's a little bit of a debate about who is speaking here. Some commentators believe that the Apostle John is the one that starts speaking in verse 31, while some believe that it is John the Baptist and his continued testimony. Now, in looking at a situation like this, we must examine the text. And what I want us to see is that verse 31, on down to verse 36, it is a continuation of the exact same teaching found in verse 22 to verse 30. This is one continuous message. And according to the text, looking at the text, there is no clear break in the text.

So based on that examination in a simplistic manner, we can deduce safely that this is John the Baptist speaking right here in verse 31. I think those commentators that would say that John is speaking, they are in error. I believe that it is John and his last testimony starting in verse 22, all the way down to the end of the chapter. And what is John doing? John is bringing his witness to a pinnacle, to an apex where he is saying, "Listen, I've been here to do my job, but Jesus is greater." So let's turn our attention to the text. Let's pick up in verse 31. What does John tell us?

"He who comes from above is above all, and he who is of the earth is from the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all." Verse 32, "What he has seen and heard, and of that he bears witness, and no man receives his witness. He who has received his witness 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 shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." Now I said earlier, this is a continuation of what we looked at last week, and we are seeing this is John's witness. Jesus is greater. This is a part two. We're going to look at several things out of these verses. We're going to look at five truths. Christ is from heaven. Christ's witness is from heaven. Christ's power is from heaven. Christ's authority is from heaven. Christ's salvation is from heaven. You can abbreviate what we're looking at.

You can say Christ is from heaven, and you can say his witness, his power, his authority, and his salvation. Where are they from? They are from heaven. And I'd like you to write those truths down. They help us understand the text. We're going to flesh these truths out, and I believe we're going to have an understanding of what John is trying to teach, and he is basically giving his last witness that Jesus is greater. So let's look at main truth number two in our outline, and that is Christ is from heaven. Christ is from heaven. Look at verse 31.

"He who comes from above is above all, and he who is of earth is from the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all." Now, John is continuing in verse 31 exactly what he said previously in verses 27 through 30. Look back up in those verses. John answered and he said, "A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness that I said, 'I am not the Christ. I am the one that has been sent before him.'" What is John saying? "I am the one that is from earth. I am not the one that is from heaven." So verse 31 really is a continuation.

And listen, these verses accurately relate to us who Christ was in relation to who John was. So first notice he says, "Christ is from above." What does he say? "He who comes from above is above all." Then on down he says in verse 31, "He who comes from heaven is above all." Two times he references the fact that Christ comes from above. Now, all of the translations that we read say this same phrase from above. Now, the wording from above in the original is the same as the wording from John 3, verses 3 and verse 7, where Jesus tells Nicodemus, "You must be born again, or remember it can be translated.

You must be born from above." And remember, our understanding of that language came from our message, "The Mystery of the New Birth, Part 2." Nicodemus needed a birth. Now listen, from above. He didn't need a commitment from his own heart. He didn't need a decision that he would make. He needed a new birth, a birth from the above, a birth of the Spirit. And Jesus, John, excuse me, is using the same word concerning Jesus that Jesus is from, now listen, above. He is from above. Let's continue. Second notice, John is from the earth. He who comes from above is above all. And he who is of the earth is from the earth and speaks of the earth.

Now the word "earth" here is not the same word as "world" like we see in 1 John 2.15. We should know that passage of Scripture. 1 John 2.15 says, "Do not love the world nor the things in the world." There's a lot of confusion attached to this word "earth" because some people can think it's the same word "world" right here out of 1 John. And that's not the case. That right here in 1 John refers to the evil world system of sin and rebellion which is governed by Satan and is against God. But that's not the word that John uses. This word "earth" here refers to being human and not deity. Do you get that?

John the Baptist was sent from God according to chapter 1 verse 6 of the Gospel of John. John, his preaching was accurate and it was true and it was powerful to change the lives of those who heard. He fulfilled his call in his role as what we learned last week out of verse 29. Remember verse 29 he uses a parable. He says, "Listen, I'm not the bride, I'm not the bridegroom, I'm just a groomsman or the best man, a friend of the groom." And what was his role? His role was to introduce the bride to the bridegroom. And he had great joy when he saw people, mankind, going to Christ because that was his job.

John was from the earth and he fulfilled that role but contrasts John with what we see John saying about Jesus. Jesus was God in the flesh. God in the flesh sent by God the Father. Now you've got to understand the context. The Apostle John is writing to those, many who had an improper Christology, those who were teaching an improper teaching about the deity of Christ. And what we see here is John is relating the difference between John the Baptist and Jesus.

And John is saying only what John the Baptist said and John the Baptist said, "He is from above and I am from the earth, he is God in the flesh and I'm just a man." Now an application, what can we see here? I believe we can come down to one word and that is sovereignty. Jesus is sovereign, why? Because he is from above. Yes he was man and yes he was God. He was the God-man. You can say it accurately that he was 100% God and 100% man but yet he was sinless. Perfect in every way, perfect in deed, perfect in thought, perfect in word. He was the God-man and he is sovereign. He is sovereign in trials in our lives.

He is sovereign in the ministry of the work of the church. And I made a lot of application last week as to how John's example can relate to us in the church. We must fulfill our role and our function and our call in the life of the church. And we must see that it is Christ who is to govern the affairs of the church. Why? Because he is from above and we are not. Let's move on. Let's look at truth number two. That is Christ's witness from heaven. Christ's witness from heaven. Now we will cover a greater portion of scripture here so be patient. This is from verses 32 to the beginning of verse 34.

"What he has seen and heard of that he bears witness and no man receives his witness. He who has received his witness has said he is sealed to this, that God is true, for he whom God has sent speaks the words of God." What do we see in these verses? It's all about Christ's witness. It's all about his testimony. Now these truths are packed full of nothing but truth. We see the origin of Christ's words and we also see man's reactions to Christ's words or Christ's witness. Now let me stop here for a minute. You must remember, we must remember that man is responsible for Christ's witness to the world.

Mankind is responsible for the words and the witness of Christ. And what we are going to see in these verses is Christ's witness and man's responsibility or reaction. So let's notice first, Christ spoke what he heard. Christ, he spoke what he heard. Look at verse 32. "What he has seen and heard of that he bears witness, no man receives his witness." What do we see at the beginning? "What he has seen and heard of, he bears witness." This is an imperative thing that we see how God has spoken throughout time. Let me explain what I mean. We need to back up for a minute and it is imperative for us to see how God has spoken throughout the ages.

During the time of the Old Testament he spoke through the prophets. We know those prophets. We have the major prophets, the minor prophets. Prophets like Elijah, prophets like Amos, prophets like Hezekiah. And we have those men that God had appointed and God spoke through the prophets. But we understand that John the Baptist was the last of the Old Testament prophets. And God spoke through the prophets and God spoke through John. And that was in what is called the Old Covenant. But now in the Gospel of John we are transitioning into what is called the New Covenant. And in the New Covenant God speaks, now listen, through his son Jesus.

He speaks through his son Jesus. And John is saying here that Jesus speaks of what he has seen and what he has heard from God. You might not realize it, but Jesus has already told us this. Remember what we learned previously in Jesus dealing with Nicodemus? In chapter 3 verse 11 he says, "We speak of which we know and bear witness of that which we have seen." What is Jesus saying? "I speak of that which I know because of that which I have seen." And what we can say is Jesus never spoke outside of that which he had seen and heard and knew from God. Jesus never said a word. He never did a deed.

He never did anything on the earth outside of what he had seen and knew of God. And see Christ spoke of that which he had heard. Second, I want us to see Christ's words were approved. Christ's words were approved. He who has received his witness has said a seal to this that God is true. Now in Jesus' day, and especially in Old Testament times, the seal was given as a sign of approval or certification. Now many times there was a seal that was in the form of a ring or what had been called a signet ring. And that was a popular thing, especially in Old Testament times. I'll give you an example. You can write this down for your own personal study.

But in Genesis chapter 41 in verse 42, what does it say? "Then Pharaoh took off his signet ring from his hand and he put it on Joseph's hand and clothed him in garments of fine linen and put the gold necklace around his neck." Now what's going on here? You know, hopefully you do, the story of Joseph. Remember he went through this great trial where he was betrayed by his brothers and he ended up in Egypt. And he went through trial after trial after trial after trial. His set of circumstances just went from bad to worse, did they not? But lo and behold, God had a purpose bigger than himself, bigger than Joseph that is.

And it was God's will and God's plan that he would make Joseph in charge of Egypt. Why? To preserve his own people Israel. And God bestowed upon Joseph great favor. And right here in this verse we see one of the most powerful men on the face of the earth taking Joseph and putting him second in command of all of Egypt. And what does he do? He puts a ring on his finger. That is a seal of his approval, a seal of his certification. So if there would have been an Egyptian who would have questioned Joseph's authority, all Joseph had to do was show that ring. Because it was Pharaoh's ring. And any Egyptian would have known that Joseph was certified.

He was approved by who? By Pharaoh. And so that's what's taking place here. We see that Christ's words, they were approved, they were certified. But the third thing I want us to see, Christ's words were God's. Look at the beginning of verse 34, "For he whom God has sent speak the words of God." See, Christ being the perfect Son of God spoke God's word fully and without corruption. Now how did he do this? How did Christ do this? He was sent from God himself to the world. And in contrast to John the Baptist, John the Baptist was of the earth and he was human. But Jesus was perfect and he was from heaven.

John was fallible while Jesus was infallible. But what do we see in these verses? We see in these verses, Christ was a true witness from heaven, but we also see that sinful man cannot receive his testimony. Go back to the second portion of verse 32. "What he has seen and heard of that he bears witness." Now here's where we're going. "No man receives his witness." Now why is that the case? There's another word I want you to hold on to. It is called depravity. Because man is in a depraved state, man without Christ is in what's called a natural state, a depraved state, a sinful state. They cannot receive the truth of the Word of God.

They cannot receive heavenly things. The Apostle Paul helps us with this in 1 Corinthians 2.14. He says this, "That truth is foolishness to him and they cannot receive it." Why? Because he is a natural man, a sinful man, a depraved man. But what do we see at the beginning of verse 33? "He who has received his witness has set his seal to this that God is true." So what do we see? "There are those who do receive him, therefore giving an approval to what he testifies." Now how in the world can this natural man, this depraved man finally accept God's words? Listen churches, only because of a work of the Father.

Mankind can only be saved because first God does a work in them and enables them to receive and believe and trust in Christ. But what are we focusing on? We're focusing primarily on Christ's witness was from heaven. Now how does this apply to us? We must see how God speaks today. We must understand that God speaks through the testimony of Jesus and the testimony of His Word. And let me tell you church, that is sufficient for you and me and the church. Listen, I'm afraid there are a lot of people and I'm afraid there are a lot of churches who lie in dealing with this subject.

I think there are a lot of churches and a lot of people on the pews that they will raise their Bible and say the Word of God is the authoritative Word. It is infallible. It is without corruption. And it has been given to us to live our lives by, to govern the church by. But listen, their words don't line up with their actions. And see for us, for you, for me, for us as born again people, we must see that God's witness is from heaven and God's Word, Jesus' Word, the Word of God is sufficient and it is all that we need. And look, churches today need to come about and bring about a time of reformation. Why?

Because the church needs to get back to what the Word of God says. I don't know if you know it, but that's exactly what Brother Keith and I are. We are reformers. I've said this previously. There are some churches that celebrate the reformation when really they're celebrating in hypocrisy because their churches need reformation. And I take offense to that because I have sacrificed greatly to get to this place. And I trust in, listen, the witness from heaven, God's Word is sufficient. And that's how God speaks today. He wants us to govern our lives and the works of the church by the Word of God. See, what do we see?

Christ is from heaven and Christ's witness is from heaven. Christ spoke what he heard, Christ's words were approved, and Christ's words were God's words. You see? Let's move on. Let's look at truth number two. No, excuse me, truth number three. Let's look at Christ's power from heaven. Christ's power it is from heaven. It's the second portion of verse 34. For he whom God has sent speaks the words of truth of God. And here we go. Transition. For he gives the spirit without measure. For he, that's God, gives the spirit without measure. Now all of the translations that we read say the same thing, same thing here.

Now this little portion of verse 34 tells us a lot, especially again in comparison with John the Baptist. You have to remember that John was the last of the Old Testament prophets. Now in that, John, he had a measure of the spirit. And all of the prophets who ever lived had a measure of the spirit. Let me give you one example. Remember the story of Elijah on Mount Carmel? Isn't that great and wonderful? How he goes toe to toe with those prophets of Baal and that wicked king and his wife? But what do we see? God gave Elijah a measure of the spirit. And he had the powerful work of the spirit in his life.

But he only had a certain measure of the spirit. It was a limited measure of the spirit. But what about John the Baptist? The last of the Old Testament prophets. He preached repentance and he literally shook the nation of Israel in preparation for the coming of the Christ. And he only had a measure of the spirit. But what about Christ? That's what John is saying. Christ had the spirit without measure because he had the spirit in complete fullness without limit. And Paul helps us to see this overlooked fact about Christ in Colossians chapter 2 verse 9. Paul says, "For in him all," all of the translations use that word all.

"For in him all of the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form." Whereas all of the Old Testament prophets had a measure of the spirit, Christ had the fullness of the spirit. Now why do we need to see this today? We need to see that Christ and Christ alone is all that we need. He is sufficient in power and wonder and glory to do what only God can do. But you see what's happened is the church has moved away from that. Christians have moved away from that. We have exchanged the power of God for so many other things. You know there are a lot of churches, they've exchanged the power of God for entertainments.

A lot of churches, they have substituted the power of God for entertainment to bring people into the life of the church. And they believe that if people can be entertained by the things of God, that will bring about reform and change in their own life. And that is not the case because those things will never change a man from the inside out. It's only the power of God. But there are also people in the life of the church, they believe that theological positions and creeds and doctrinal statements will change a person's life. We can have a perfect doctrinal statement.

We can study theology all of our days and sharpen our theology every step of the way. But that still won't change a life. Because see church, it is the mysterious and it is the wonderful and it is the glorious power of God that can only change a life. I heard this example years ago and I've heard it repeatedly. If you go back and you study the life of John Wesley and you read his journals, and when you study how he traveled all over England, he rode a horse the length and breadth of England and he traveled up into his late 80s. What is he doing? Preaching repentance and what does it say? Everywhere he went, what did he present? Christ.

Because he understood it was Christ and all of his power that was going to transform a life. Christ had power, unlimited power. And I want you to know people, if we have Christ to manifest himself here, he will save your lost loved one, he will rescue that marriage, he will save our children and he will empower the church to do what only he can empower us to do. Christ's power was from heaven and without limitation. The first thing I want us to see is Christ's authority was from heaven. In Matthew chapter 35, the Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. What do we see? Jesus himself said where his authority had come from.

Remember Matthew 28 verse 18? Of course, Matthew is riding. This is at the end of Jesus' life. This is at the beginning of Jesus' ministry. And in Matthew 28, 18, Jesus said all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. And what is John the Baptist saying? John the Baptist is saying the Father loves the Son and has given him all things into his hands. Let's break this verse down. First, notice the Father loves the Son. The Father loves the Son. That's what he says at the beginning of the verse. This speaks of God's approval of the Son and the Son's obedience to the Father. Just as God loved the world, God loves the Son.

The second thing I want us to see is the Father gives the Son all things. Isn't that what the verse says? The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. Because of this love for the Son and the Son's obedience to the Father, the Father has given all things over to the Son. Luke 10, 22 said all things have been handed over to me by my Father. Again, that's Christ's testimony. Now, I want you to see that the end of verse 34 and verse 35 are closely tied together. Because God loved the Son, he gave him the Spirit without measure, and he gave him all authority.

What God gave Jesus is reflective of his love and his approval on him. Everything that Jesus did was a sign of the approval and the acceptance of the Father. Now, what do we need to see? We need to see as the church, again, that it is Christ and Christ alone. That is all that we need. Christ is all power. Christ is all authority. And we as the church are to operate under that authority. Now listen, exactly like Christ operated under the authority of the Father. You get that? Christ did nothing outside of the authority of the Father. Christ only did what the Father dictated him to do.

And as the church, we must operate under Christ's authority. We must govern the church the way Christ says we should govern the church. We should do the things that Christ says that we should do. And again, it means going back to the authority of the Word, not just in word, but indeed, because Christ was under the authority of the Father, and we should be under the authority of Christ, because God the Father gave God the Son all authority. See how this builds? We need Christ because we need Christ's power, and we need to be under his authority. Why? Because he loves us and we love him. And let's move on. Let's look at truth number five.

Main truth number five, let's notice Christ's salvation is from heaven. Christ's salvation is from heaven. Now notice there's almost a change here. Look at verse 36, "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 on him." I like what John MacArthur says, speaking of this verse. This is really good. He said, "Before he faded from the scene, John the Baptist gave an invitation and a warning that form a fitting climax, not only to this chapter, but also to his entire ministry." You see that? This is a climax.

As John the Baptist is fading from the scene, this is a climax to the chapter, but also to his ministry. Let's notice two things about this verse. First, there is belief in the Son. He who believes in the Son has eternal life. Now this word "belief," this word "believes," is not an intellectual belief. Now we learned of this word in the message, "The World's Response to the Light," part two. To believe is to accept information or a person to trust them and to offer oneself unto them. Isn't that what those early disciples did? They said, "Lord Jesus, wherever you go, we will go.

We will sit at your feet as a student, but we will stay with you as a disciple." That's why they said to him, "Lord, where are you staying?" Because in that day, a disciple did not just profess words. They followed. And see, to believe is to accept information or a person to trust them and to offer oneself unto them. To receive him is to receive the total Christ and to receive all the Bible says about him. Remember, we said this in this message. Yes, he walked on the water. We accept that. Yes, he rose from the grave and we accept that. But it is to receive him for who he is and not just for receiving him for what he can do.

And the results are, what does the text say? "Eternal life." "He who believes in the Son has eternal life." But then second notice, there is the rejection of the Son. There is the rejection of the Son. "He who believes in the Son has eternal life, but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but God's wrath abides on him." Now, there's a contrast here. John is saying that to receive Christ is to obey Christ and to disobey Christ is to reject Christ. See the contrast? Obedience versus disobedience. Now, notice the results. To live lives of disobedience is to reject Christ and therefore to live life under the wrath of God. The A.

Carson says, "God's wrath is not some impersonal principle of retribution, but the personal response of a holy God." Do you see that? That wrath is a response of a holy God to a non-believing, disobedient individual. This is a rejection of the Son. Now, from time to time, I do look at other translations. And I'm not a big fan of using a paraphrase as your only method of study, but I like referring to them sometimes. And the Amplified deals with this verse in a creative way. And it's very wordy, but I want you to listen to what the Amplified says. Talking of verse 36.

"And he who believes in, has faith in, clings to, relies on the Son, has now and possesses eternal life. But whoever disobeys is unbelieving toward, refuses to trust in, disregards, is subject to, the Son will never see, experience life. But instead, the wrath of God abides on him. God's displeasure remains on him. His indignation," now notice, "hangs over him continuously." Very wordy, but describes accurately what's taking place here. "The one who disobeys is the one who does not believe, and the one who believes is the one who obeys." And this last verse is a great climax from John.

He is offering eternal life in Christ and explaining what happens to men who disobey Christ. This is an explanation point at the end of John's ministry. This is an explanation point as John's purpose comes to an end. He is doing nothing but pointing people towards Christ. Remember the illustration in verse 29? He is the groomsman of the best man who was to take the bride to the groom. And see people, we need to see this verse clearly and powerfully. "Those who live lives in disobedience to Christ, they do not know Christ." Those who live life in disobedience to Christ, they do not know Christ, and they are under the wrath of God.

They have offended God, and they offended God every day of their lives. And we must understand it's not about what they say, it's about what they do. Because that's what John's saying. It's not about what you say. If you live a life in disobedience to God, and if you're here this morning, and you live a continual life day in and day out in disobedience to the word of God, and God, you do not believe, and you are doing nothing but living under the cloud of the wrath of God. And see, we need to see that because we have lost loved ones that need this message so desperately. See, that's what the church should do. The church should be a herald.

The church should be like John leading people to Christ, leading the bride to the groom. That's what the church should do, is to be the great facilitator between the one they can save and the ones who need salvation, living under the wrath of God. Now, as we begin to conclude, we must see what John is doing in his writing. Remember the issue that I've said so many different times? The Apostle John, what is he doing in his writing? He is establishing proper Christology. He is establishing Christ as the Son of God, deity, God in the flesh. And that's all John the Baptist is doing. He is establishing proper Christology.

The Apostle John and John the Baptist have a message that goes right together. And what are they doing? Establishing Christ. Greater than Judaism, replaces the temple, fulfills all of the Old Testament prophecies, and he's even greater than John the Baptist. Now, as we conclude these verses, we must see that in this transition from John the Baptist to Jesus, there is a greater transition. There is a transition from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant. Jesus became the great mediator of the New Covenant, according to Hebrews 11 and Hebrews 8, Hebrews 8 and 11.

And what we see that he was proven as the great mediator, because listen, his sacrificial death on the cross was accepted. Therefore, the seal, the certification, the approval of God was placed upon his Son. Listen as the great mediator between God and man, the mediator of the New Covenant. And that's all John is doing. Now get this mental image as we close. John's in some area, and Jesus is in Judea. Remember that setting? Verse 22. The disciples, John's disciples, some of them are starting to go to Jesus. Some are just creating almost this debate about what's going on.

And all John does is stay right there in some area and say, "I'll fulfill my role. I'll fulfill my task. I'm a friend of the groom, and all I've done is lead the bride to the groom. I am in transition. We're transitioning from me to Christ. I'm just here a short while." And what does he say? Behold the Lamb of God. And let me tell you something, church. If we will get to the place where we believe Christ is sufficient, and that will be our message everywhere we go, we will do exactly what John did. We will be mediators of the New Covenant.

We will be the friend of the groom, the friend of the bride, those whom he would call, and we will just introduce people to Jesus, introduce people to Jesus, introduce people to Jesus. And that is our job until this day of grace is over. You see? So what do we see? John's witness, fading from the scene, Jesus is greater. Lord, thank you for these words. So much power, so much truth, so relevant to where we are today. Pray that you'll help us to receive all that you would want us to see, hear, and understand.