The Final Testimony of John the Baptist

John chapter 3, I'll read the text before me and then we will go to our Lord in prayer. We'll start John chapter 3 in verse 22. 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 Enon near 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 they came to John and said to him, Rabbi, he who is 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 and 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 on 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 hands. Whoever believes in the son has eternal life.

Whoever does not believe the son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. Oh, Father, help us, Lord, to look to your word with fruit as the result. Help us, God, to be able to receive your word. Help us, Lord, to be able to obey your word. Lord, we know that this is only possible because of what Christ Jesus has done to die for sinners like us and to send his spirit to help us.

And so, God, may we in this time see Jesus more clearly. May we know him more. may we love him more may we come to see more the love that he has for us oh God in heaven we know that we are plagued with many weaknesses because of our flesh sin is all too willing and prevalent to make us distracted and to look away from the pure words of Christ and so I just pray God that you would help us now let us rejoice in Christ let us rejoice in our maker let us rejoice in our Savior who has remade us after his image. And so, Lord, help us to listen well, and may the word be preached and proclaimed, so that as we hear and listen and obey, you'd be glorified and be for our good.

In Jesus' name, amen. Well, now as we finish chapter 3, we have, after Jesus spent some time in Jerusalem and speaking to Nicodemus, we have John and his gospel. He provides us a return with John the Baptist here. and we see a return of John the Baptist's proper or true testimony. If you remember, we spent a few weeks looking at John the Baptist and his testimony and we saw how he was a proper testimony and how he's true testimony.

And now we see a return of John the Baptist to give once more proper or true testimony for us to learn and see, but it is a more potent one this time because it's under new circumstances. and the conflict with those new circumstances becomes evident and the proper testimony John the Baptist gives in that conflict becomes more potent for us, becomes a greater example. And so this morning as we look at this, as we look at the proper and true testimony, the return of John the Baptist, we're going to see the change of circumstances that has happened around him. We're going to see the conflict that came forth from that and we're going to see the true testimony that comes forth and we're going to learn something along the way about true testimony once more.

So let's take a look at that, the new circumstances now of the testimony of John the Baptist, the new circumstances that have happened around him. Look again at verse 22, in which the text says, After this, after this means after Jesus was in Jerusalem as we just went over, and he was speaking with Nicodemus, right? That's what we've been going over the last several weeks. after this time in which Jesus was in Jerusalem at the feast he and his disciples went into the Judean countryside and he remained there with them and was baptizing now we got to set up the setting well in order for us to understand the conflict well in order for us to understand the testimony of John the Baptist well and so the setting here is that Jesus leaves Jerusalem after the feast and he heads east to the Jordan River to the Judean countryside which is close to the Jordan River.

Now here's the thing, John the Baptist was around that same area prior in his ministry baptizing. But here now Jesus and his disciples move into that same area where they are baptizing. Now we see in next chapter Jesus didn't do any baptizing, it's his disciples that do it. But nevertheless Jesus sets up camp right in the same area that John the Baptist was at and he has a ministry of baptism.

And so we see in verse 23, John also was baptizing at Enon near Salem. And so what it looks like that John the Baptist did is he went up the Jordan River north and he started to baptize because the water was plentiful there and because it appears like he's kind of moving out of the way of Jesus where he's at, right? Jesus's ministry is setting up shop near where he was at.

And so he moves north in preference to Jesus where he finds plentiful water so he can continue his ministry of preaching the word and baptizing. And people were still as we see in this text in verse 23 coming to him But notice in verse 24 in parentheses we have in the ESV that John says to us for John the Baptist had not yet been put in prison That's an important little information there to kind of get a taste of the setting. Because in the other Gospels, the Gospel of John was written after the other Gospels.

In the other Gospels, what we see is John the Baptist has a ministry, baptism, the start of Jesus's ministry happens and then John the Baptist that's it that's it he gets put put in prison and his head gets chopped off but here we have John says I acknowledge that all the other gospels that's that's what they say but John is saying there's actually something that happened in between him being put in prison and Jesus's start of his ministry there's actually an overlap between John the Baptist's ministry and Jesus's ministry, in which they're kind of, so to speak, at conflict, so to speak, with one another. And so all the other gospels said he got put in prison right away, where John says actually there's a little bit of overlap between the two ministries of Jesus and John the Baptist. And that overlap is going to create a conflict, and that conflict, we're going to see the testimony of John the Baptist, and it's going to teach us a lot about how we should be that kind of testimony.

So that parenthesis is telling us something happened during that overlap that I want to tell you about because it tells you what proper testimony is. And so that's the setting that we have before us. And now let's look at the conflict in light of the new setting or the new circumstances that has happened. Look at verse 25. This is the conflict that came forth from these new circumstances.

In verse 25, now a discussion arose between some of John's disciples and a Jew over purification. Now, we have John the Baptist. His disciples are discussing, whether it's an argument or whatever, it's not 100% clear, but they're discussing with a Jew, perhaps it's a Jewish leader, just like they were questioned a couple chapters ago when the religious leaders, their delegation came to them and said, why are you baptizing?

It might be something similar to this. They're discussing purification rites, this Old Testament way of purifying things to get them ready for worship, purifying things so they were pure and ready for the worship of the temple in which they would undergo water purification. And here John the Baptist is doing something similar. He's baptizing people, but this is a little bit different in the fact that he's baptizing them, purifying them to be ready for the entrance of the new kingdom coming.

And so this would create conversations with what are you doing? and talk about purification, the nature of it in the Old Testament. And so here's this discussion that's happening with John the Baptist's disciples and this Jew about purification because he is baptizing. We don't know exactly why, but from this conversation, the disciples of John the Baptist finally go to John the Baptist and they point out a very major grievance that they have that's going on right now.

They say in verse 26, they go to John, his disciples, and they say to him, Rabbi, he who is with us across the Jordan to whom you bore witness, look, he is baptizing and all are going to him. So somehow the conversation about purification and baptism amounted to his disciples going to John and saying, listen, everyone's going to him, they're no longer being here now. And so we see these two ministries are kind of close together, and Jesus is getting more people, more popular now, more baptisms, and John the Baptist's disciples are saying there's something wrong here.

We don't like this. Now, why exactly did that conversation lead to a spillover in which they're complaining to John the Baptist? We don't know. Maybe this man who was asking them about purifications and baptism, maybe he didn't get an answer that he liked, and so maybe he said, I'll go to Jesus and his disciples. they have a lot more baptisms, and they have a lot more influence now anyways.

Maybe it was something along those lines. But we do know that that conversation brought about this complaint from John the Baptist's disciples. They're going to him, Jesus, and they're no longer flowing to us. Again, remember, John the Baptist had quite the ministry at the beginning, didn't he? He was very popular. We see in the Gospels all the people around the region were coming to him.

He had delegations from religious leaders asking about his ministry. Are you the Messiah? Being confused. And here, now all of a sudden, Jesus and his ministry is encroaching in, and people are flowing to his ministry, and John the Baptist's disciples are like, what is the deal? I don't like this too much. So these are the new circumstances that now arise.

This is the conflict that has came up, where we saw John the Baptist and his proper testimony when he was popular and saying, look to Christ, now we're going to see that same testimony of look to Christ while he is no longer all that popular. So it's going to be the same testimony with the conflict that comes in that really reveals proper testimony that's going to help us out to give proper testimony as well. Look at this, the conflict a little bit more, I jumped the gun.

Look at verse 26 again. You can see their irritation coming forth from them as they approach John the Baptist. They came to John, his disciples, and said to him, Rabbi. Now that's the first indication of irritation. It's interesting in John, the only time someone is called Rabbi other than Jesus is right here. And so again, there's a little bit of looking in, but bear with me here.

It appears that they are perhaps given a preference or an allegiance to John the Baptist, the rabbi over Jesus Christ, who is typically always the one that's called rabbi. But the irritation we could see further when they say, he who is with you across the Jordan to whom you bore witness look he is baptizing and all are going to him You notice that they don even say Jesus name They don say his title They just simply say hey the guy that you witnessed to he getting more people now And so you can kind of, again, see the irritation. You can see the conflict boiling over in their souls.

That one, I'm not even going to mention his name because he's irritating us. He's getting more people now. And notice the third aspect of their irritation as well. Look at what he says. All are going to him. Now, are all going to him?

Well, we just read, if you notice in verse 23, that the water was plentiful where John the Baptist was, and people were coming and being baptized. So people were still going to John the Baptist. But the fact is that more people were flowing to Jesus. And here the disciples of John the Baptist reveal their irritation by that exaggeration, and all are going to.

Everyone's going to, and we don't have anyone. And you can be sure that whenever you use those exaggerate terms and everything, you have an irritated heart. And I've said this before, whenever you're arguing with your wife or husband and you're sinful and you're in your anger, what you'll start doing is you'll use those words. You always do this. You never do that.

This is what you do. So the moment you do that, cut it out, right? But here we see this is what they're doing. They have still people that they're baptizing, but they're irritated that it has dwindled so much and Jesus has increased so much that they say, everyone's going to him, Jesus. They are not happy. Here is a conflict that has arisen from these two ministries that are happening very close together.

So again, whereas before John the Baptist's witnessing was drawing huge crowds to him, now his witnessing to Jesus is diminishing his crowd while they flock to Jesus. And although it's to less people that John the Baptist is going to give his testimony to now, it is all the more potent under these new circumstances that he would remain faithful to the testimony despite the fact that he's losing popularity. You see what I'm saying?

That although he's testifying now to less people, it is actually more potent because he's still saying the same things of glorifying Christ, even as his own glory is being diminished as glory is going to Christ. So his testimony, in my opinion, becomes more potent here because he's losing his own glory, so to speak, because Christ is increasing his. And before we move into how he does that, I think it's important just to try to get our minds on the implications for us too, right?

That certainly ministers today are witnesses to Jesus although it's post his work where John the Baptist is pre his work but we got we we must understand that ministers ought to have the same kind of proper testimony despite the fact that being a proper testimony of Jesus a lot of times will take away the minister's own glory or own popularity right a lot of times preaching Christ will become a very unpopular thing in which the crowds might leave for something that's a little bit more entertaining and the preacher who wants to be a proper testimony like John the Baptist should look at this and say, this is how I can remain faithful to the testimony to Jesus despite losing popularity, despite things not going the way I would want them to go for my own popularity. Or even the other side, right? Sometimes a minister is very good at preaching the word of God, good at preaching God's word, and there is a big crowd that comes because of that.

And that person, that minister, that testimony must stay faithful that although I have a crowd here, I'm still going to glorify Christ up and above my own glory that I'm receiving from the big crowd. So either way, a pastor, a minister needs to be a proper testimony to Jesus, no matter the hurt it might bring or matter the temptation of glory they may receive from it. Christ must be glorified at the humility of the person doing the testimony.

This is why I think it's important for pastors. I always, and I won't stop, like every single year that I am, I always think that the oldest, the youngest that a pastor can be is a year younger than me. That just always seems to be appropriate. You know, when I was 28, when I first went into ministry, which is way too young, I would have thought, well, 27 is probably the youngest.

And now at 35, I think, what's the youngest someone can get in the ministry? 34 is a good number. When I'm 50 or 60, it'll be the year younger. Because there's so much temptation. There's so much of, again, whenever you are dealing with this battle of me testifying to Jesus, it means I must humble myself. There's so much temptation to forego that original testimony, like John the Baptist will prove not to do, but his followers want to do. but and you know for it's not just for the implications aren't just for ministers today but any believer you if you're a believer in Christ you are called to be a testimony to Jesus right a pastor's you know that's certainly their job behind the pulpit give testimony to lead the church with the proper testimony to Christ but if you are a believer you are called to be a testimony to Jesus.

And you must understand that many times it comes with humbling yourselves to glorify Christ. That to truly glorify Christ and for him to be exalted, that necessitates you being humbled yourself. Whether it's your pride, your circumstances, your possessions, it requires humiliation on your end. And again, we're going to see how John the Baptist takes that circumstance that as I'm proclaiming Jesus, it involves necessarily me no longer being as popular or negative circumstances, yet he remains faithful to that testimony that he gives.

Now, how does he do that? What does he do here, and how can we grab hold of the same way of thinking so that we can be the proper testimony despite circumstances that might tempt us to forego it Well we going to look at his testimony here in the following verses and we're going to look at it in two ways. John the Baptist proves to be a proper testimony here to Jesus, to Jesus' glory, even to the loss of his own glory.

And he does it in two ways that we're going to look at, by talking about his own ministry being a gift from heaven, and he does it by talking about Jesus's ministry being from heaven itself. So in other words, in order for him to solidify his testimony to Jesus, despite the conflict here, he's going to do it by describing his own ministry being a gift from heaven and describing Jesus's ministry being from heaven itself. Notice the humiliation versus the exaltation.

So you will not be a proper testimony if you do not have these two main principles in your heart and mind. That my ministry is a gift from heaven and Jesus' ministry is from heaven itself. He is exalted and I am humbled. So let's look at what he says first. The first aspect, his own ministry is a gift from heaven. This helps him to testify despite the negative circumstances, despite the conflict.

Look at verse 27. After his disciples came to him, were upset, John answered in verse 27, and this is the gift, his ministry is a gift from heaven. He says, a person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given from heaven. A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given from heaven. John the Baptist's ministry to testify to Jesus is a gift from heaven and is to be received with thankfulness no matter the particulars.

If the particulars are difficult and hard or good, he views his ministry, his testimony to Jesus, as a gift from heaven. Imagine for a moment if you had enough money to go and buy a car, it would make sense for you to command certain things from the salesman. I want it to be this color. I want it to be this model, this make. This is what I want. And it'd be weird for him to say, no, you're going to get this kind of car, right?

You say, no, I have the money. I'm going to purchase what I want. It's going to be this make, this model, this color, da, da, da, right? But now imagine if the car was a gift to you, though, instead. Imagine this car is a gift to you. It would be very strange for you to receive a brand new car.

Let's say your car just broke down and it's done. And so it says, here is a car for you, a brand new one. How strange would it be for you to say, yep, I want this make, this model, I want this circumstance, I want it to be like that. It'd be absolutely ridiculous because it's a gift given to you. And so the testimony or the ministry that you have for Jesus is not something that you work for to have, but it is a gift given to you to enjoy.

And so therefore you cannot dictate the circumstances that surround it, but you simply take the circumstances and you say, I'm going to enjoy my gift of being a testimony to Jesus. John the Baptist looked at his testimony to Jesus, his ministry, as a gift from heaven. And so it helped him that no matter the circumstances surrounding it, when he was popular, and now when he's not popular and no one's coming to him, it helped him to be thankful for the ministry that he has as a gift from God.

And the moment that we want to be like John the Baptist's disciples and say, wait a fine moment, I don't like this circumstance, is a moment that we have forgotten that the whole thing is a gift given to you from God to enjoy, despite the circumstances, whatever it may be. And so we see here that John really, he puts, to be a proper testimony, despite the hardship here, he puts it all on the foundation that his ministry is a gift from heaven. He is not from heaven itself, or it's not from heaven itself, as we'll see Jesus is.

He says it is a gift. He goes on from that, and he says, the second part of this, going forth from it's a gift from heaven, his ministry is a gift from heaven, is to remind them of what he said already in verse 28. He says, you yourselves bear me witness. I said, I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him. So there he is. He's saying this is the same testimony that I had before.

It has not changed. Circumstances change. There's conflict here that I didn't have before, but it's still the same testimony. It's still the same truth. It has not changed just because I don't like a little bit, or I may not like a little bit, of what's happening here. Before, when Christ was not well known, the start of his ministry, and I had a great crowd, the testimony was, I'm not Christ.

I came before him, but I'm not him. And now the testimony remains the same. He's popular. He has a lot more crowds. I have less, but it's still the same testimony. I am not the Christ.

He is. I came before him. Again, the confusion, why he had to say that he is not the Christ, is because he had the gift to look like Christ, right? To be a testimony to Jesus means that we look like Jesus. And that's why John the Baptist had to remind him before and now again of saying, I am not the Christ, because his testimony was to look like Jesus, to look like him and to remind people of him. but he wasn't him himself.

The gift was to look like him, but he wasn't the source. He wasn't Jesus himself. And then he moves on to an illustration to illustrate the same point. To illustrate the same point. Look at verse 29 to illustrate this point. He says, 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 and so there he uses an illustration to highlight the fact that this is a ministry given to him from heaven and it's not he his ministry is not of heaven itself when he says the one who has the bride is the bridegroom but the friend of the bridegroom stands and hears him and rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice so there's the illustration that Jesus is the one who is the bridegroom.

He's the main player here, right? He's the main player. And the bride, the people that are flocking to him, that's the bride going to him, right? And the friend, or he's probably referring to the best man here, he has an important role. And John the Baptist is that best man. He has an important role.

He is to, if we look at ancient time and the weddings and stuff, the best man was really the one who organized the wedding, planned it made sure that it happened well that it happened um organized and everything like that and so what he's saying is this my gift is to organize or to proclaim the bride or the bride groom and say and have the bride go to him that's my whole point that is to organize this for him and he says that my i rejoice in the fact that i hear his voice i hear him speaking to his bride and they go to him. What a great evil or wickedness it would be for the best man after he's organized everything to then get jealous when the bride goes to the bridegroom. It'd be a great wickedness.

And he's saying, no, my gift is to be the organizer, is to be the proclaimer, is to point to him. And when the bride goes to him to rejoice in that. So he gives an illustration to show his point That he is not the bride or bridegroom, but simply the best man or the friend, so that when the bridegroom receives his bride, he rejoices at his voice. He rejoices at the bride hearing the voice.

So the purpose of our ministry and the gift of it is that our glory would decrease, but Jesus' increase. So when it happens, instead of complaining, the result should be rejoicing. And this is what he goes on to say. This is the result of his ministry being a gift from heaven. Look at verses 29 and 30. He says, he says, the one who has the bride is the bridegroom.

The friend of the bridegroom who stands here rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. And he says at the very end, the result of it is that therefore this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease. Notice he says that it's not like he says, and I'm happy that he's increasing. I'm happy that I'm decreasing. He doesn't simply say, I'm happy that more people are going to him, that my testimony has led to more people going to him.

He says that my joy is actually complete in this way, that when I see this happening, when I see the diminishing of my own glory, so to speak, and my own popularity, it not only makes me happy, but it completes my joy to see this happening. And we see that's a big, that's a far cry from what his own disciples are doing. They're angry about it. They're upset about it.

And John the Baptist says, this is the gift given to me from heaven, that I would do this very thing, that he would increase, I would decrease. So therefore, the only way for me to be joyful here is for this very thing to happen. And this is a difficult thing to swallow for us who are sinners, and sin makes us look to ourselves constantly. We want glory ourselves.

We want what we want. We want it to be focused upon ourselves. And here John the Baptist says, the only way for me to be joyful or to be completely joyful is for him to be increased and for I to be decreased. So notice, it's not just make me happy, but this is what completes my happiness. God has designed us to reflect glory, not to be the glory itself.

We will never have true joy in life unless we are being the reflector, not the receiver. So the moment we try to be the source of it is the moment that we have lost the joy of being a true testimony to Jesus. So the natural progression is to talk about Jesus' ministry as opposed to John the Baptist's ministry. Whereas John the Baptist's ministry is a gift from heaven, Jesus' ministry is from heaven itself.

And this is what he goes on to say with the next section here. He says, starting in verse 31, he's going to talk about Jesus' ministry now. And he going to say that his ministry is actually from heaven as opposed to John the Baptist ministry being a gift from heaven And he says in verse 31 he says he who comes from above meaning Jesus 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. So notice the sandwich there, right? The first sentence and the last sentence is the main point of that sandwich. And then you have in the middle, he says, so the main point is he comes, Jesus comes from above. He is from heaven itself. Where my ministry is a gift from heaven, Jesus' ministry is from heaven itself.

He is above all. And notice the end of that sentence or that verse. He who comes from heaven is above all. And so Jesus, his ministry is from heaven itself. But notice in the middle he says, he who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. I don't think right there he's saying anything necessarily sinful about people whose ministry is of the earth.

But what he's saying is there's a prominence in the fact that Jesus came from heaven itself, whereas we are from earth. And so whenever we have a comparison between Jesus who comes from heaven versus the ministry we have, which is a gift from heaven, there's going to be a prominence, there's going to be a heightened degree of honor to the one who's actually from heaven. And this is what John the Baptist is saying.

He is from heaven itself, so therefore, of course he's to increase. Of course he's to have the greater honor. It reminds me of having primary and secondary sources. You ever write a paper in high school or in college, you have to have primary and secondary sources. The primary sources are, so if I'm writing a paper on why the particular Baptists are the best Puritans, which they were, And I would then, my paper would be then to the primary sources would then to be, to quote the particular Baptist of that time period, during the Puritan time period, right?

And then the secondary sources would be people who have talked about them afterwards, right? So the primary sources would be to get from the Puritans themselves. The secondary resources would be what people said about them. And so here, John the Baptist is saying, he's saying that Jesus literally came from heaven. His ministry is from heaven. He is the primary resource in which then the ministry is from earth, a gift from heaven.

They are the secondary resources. So, of course, the prominence should be put on the primary, on Jesus who came from heaven. And so we see that the Son of God's ministry is to be the focus, is to be the increase, because he is from heaven itself. and he goes on to say he goes on to say that he not only is from heaven but he also speaks from heaven he also speaks from heaven so look at what he says in verse 32 he says he bears witness to what he has seen and heard yet no one receives his testimony whoever receives his testimony sets his seal onto this that God is true for he whom God has sent utters the words of God for he gives the spirit without measure another sandwich statement there where you have the main points being on the outer edge he says that not only is he from heaven his ministry is from heaven but he also speaks from heaven notice again 32 he bears witness to what he has actually seen and heard right secondary sources we are told from heaven and we say it right our ministry on earth to testify to Jesus but Jesus himself he actually is from heaven and so he actually speaks from heaven he bears witness to what he has seen and heard and then notice at the very end of this this part he says in verse 34 for he whom God has sent utters the words of God for he gives the spirit without measure so he actually gives the word from God himself in heaven and he says he gives the spirit without measure you see the prophets of old, people who testify to Jesus, people on earth, a ministry on earth as a gift from heaven, they have the spirit within them to do that very work.

But it's a measure of the spirit where Jesus Christ, his ministry is from heaven and he has the full spirit without measure within him. So of course, again, his ministry should be honored. And of course, John the Baptist, who has a measure of the Spirit should be decreased Or his glory Jesus should receive the glory where John the Baptist it makes sense for it to be decreased And notice he says in the middle of that sandwich, he says, again, in verse 33, whoever receives his testimony sets a seal to this, that God is true, for he whom God has sent utters the words of God.

And so the people who receive that testimony acknowledge that God is true, that what he says is of God and we understand the things from his mouth to be true things about God. And notice beyond that, that he speaks from heaven, he goes on to say that Jesus receives heaven, receives heaven. Look at verse 35. He says, the father loves the son and has given all things into his hands.

So Jesus, his ministry is of heaven. He speaks from heaven and he receives heaven. And when he says the father loves the son has given all things into his hands. And notice it's coupled with the next point too, that will kind of blend together is that Jesus not only receives heaven, receives all things, but he gives heaven. He gives all things in verse 36, when he says, 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. And so notice there, the ending there is that Christ not only receives heaven, all things given to him, but he also gives heaven to everyone who believes upon him. Remember earlier, he says, a person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given from heaven. And now we see him saying, and nothing is given to us that isn't given to Jesus first and then he gives it to us from Christ.

Look at, go to Colossians 1.15. Go to Colossians 1.15. And we see that everything that we receive comes forth from Christ first, that he received everything from heaven and then he gives to us after he's received it. Look at Colossians 1.15. Paul says, All things are for him, right? All things are for Jesus to be given to him.

He is receiver of heaven and earth. He is receiver of all things. And then in verse 18, And so not only, again, does he speak from heaven, but he receives heaven, and he gives heaven to those who believe upon him. So it is this truth of our ministry being a gift through the ministry that is Christ in heaven that makes the anger of John the Baptist's disciples so insane, right?

That they would go to him and say, he's receiving, he's increasing, he's receiving the people, and we are no longer doing that anymore. And John the Baptist, his response is to say that he is from heaven, we are not. That our gift, our ministry is a gift from heaven. he is heaven itself. And it's through receiving all things of being from heaven that he gives to his people.

And so to be upset that he would receive glory and honor is to miss this vital point of testimony to Jesus. And we know that this is not the end of John the Baptist being humbled so that Christ is exalted. You remember in Luke 7 and the other gospels, right? Remember John is in prison. He's in prison and he's languishing in prison and he's struggling with what's going on.

He's struggling with the kingdom of God is at hand. I've been baptizing for people to enter in and yet here I am in prison and it doesn't look like I'm going to get out. And you remember in that humbled state, he then sends some messengers to Jesus to say, are you the one or is one to come? And so we see that this humbling of John the Baptist doesn end here where he losing popularity but the humbling continues where he is taken out of ministry and he thrown in prison And he sends to Jesus to say are you the one that to come that going to actually bring in the kingdom in which I think he saying that I won be in prison any longer And how does Jesus respond to him?

He responds to the people that come by saying, tell John the Baptist of the miracles that are happening, of the word that's being preached by me. Tell John the Baptist about the exaltation of my work and my preaching. And then they go back and they tell him that. And that exaltation of Christ, even in view of his humiliation, was to satisfy him. And so we see that John the Baptist was one in which he constantly had to be satisfied with being decreased and lowered, even to the point of being in jail, even to the point in which his head is cut off.

But again, this is proper testimony to Jesus, that we are willing to decrease to the worst degree if that means that Christ is increased to the greatest degree, that we understand that it is our testimony that is a gift from heaven to be used as he sees fit the giver. And we are to see that it is our testimony to humble ourselves all the more so that Christ can be exalted for this is what's proper and sure. The temptation from Satan is to complain and murmur in our humbling circumstances.

If you do not see yourself in John the Baptist's disciples wanting to murmur and complain about the negative circumstances, you are not seeing your sin properly. It is a constant desire of ours to murmur and complain at the different circumstances around us rather than seeing that as an avenue for us to glorify Christ in those circumstances. And here John the Baptist is a great example of someone who in these circumstances sees it as a prime way to glorify Christ, to reveal him, to testify to him, even in those circumstances, that he must decrease, that John the Baptist must decrease, so that Christ would increase.

And this is a testimony that we have, that we would decrease, that we would have the worst of circumstances, that our honor would be taken away, so that Christ would be honored in the way that we testify to him. And notice, again, what the end of testimony is, and we'll finish with this. The end of our testimony is not that we would be glorified of ourselves, but that Christ would be so that people would believe upon him and be saved.

Again, he says, whoever believes in the Son, in this testimony, has eternal life. In verse 36, whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. Our testimony is one that Jesus saves, that he saves us from wrath, he saves us from destruction. And that saving from destruction is that we would turn away from sin, humble ourselves, and believe upon him.

And so John the Baptist ends his testimony pointing to this fact of Jesus Christ, points to his exaltation for the sake of our humiliation to turn away from sin. So let us share in that testimony, no matter the circumstances surrounding us. Oh, God in heaven, thank you for Jesus Christ. Thank you for his exaltation. Thank you, Lord, that you call us to testify to Jesus, no matter the circumstances surrounding us.

Thank you, God, that you call for the call for us. The gift of ministry is that no matter what may be happening around us, no matter what might be the the immediate repercussions to our testifying to Jesus, whether that's losing popularity, whether that's losing respect from people around us. Lord, the gift of that testimony is that we would then exalt Christ and exalt his gospel, that he'd be glorified. and we know that our joy is complete whenever our master is being so exalted.

So that even in circumstances that are negative like that, we know that Christ can be glorified. Lord, let us be satisfied with this, because we know, Lord, that this testimony is one of salvation, that we can be forgiven of our sins, that those people around us, they can flock to Christ and be saved, that his honor is to be glorified by people, to turn from their sin, to look to him instead. And so let our testimony, let us delight in our testimony of this Savior, this exalted one who does such a work of salvation.

We thank you that we can trust ourselves to you, Lord, that you are worthy of all trust and honor. May you be praised and glorified in us. May that be our testimony forever. In Jesus' name, amen.