Introduction
Last week we spent our time on verses 9 to 21 of John 3. The Lord Jesus had been talking to Nicodemus about the new birth and he had said to Nicodemus that no-one can see or enter the kingdom of God in the life to come unless he is born again of water and the Spirit. And in verse 8, Nicodemus asked the Lord, ‘How can this be?’ And in his reply to Nicodemus, the Lord made clear to him that he should have understood what he was saying about the new birth, because the Old Testament teaches us about the new birth. And last week I quoted from the book of Ezekiel, where the Lord spoke to his people in exile about these very things and how he would give his people a new heart and he will give them his Spirit and he will cleanse them from their sins. And so, Nicodemus shouldn’t have been surprised about what the Lord was saying, because it’s clear from the Old Testament that we need to be born again of water and the Spirit.
And then the Lord went on to speak about that time in the days of Moses when God’s people were on their way to the Promised Land. And on the way, they provoked the Lord to anger by their sin and unbelief. And so, he sent poisonous snakes into the camp and those who were bitten perished there in the wilderness. And when Moses prayed to the Lord on behalf of the people, the Lord told Moses to make a bronze statue of a snake and to lift it on a pole. And the Lord promised that whoever looks at the bronze snake will not perish, but will live. Instead of dying in the desert, they could continue to make their way to the Promised Land. And after referring to the story, the Lord said to Nicodemus that just as Moses lifted up the snake, so he — the Lord Jesus — must be lifted up so that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. He was announcing how he would be lifted up on a cross to die so that whoever believes in him as the only Saviour of the world will not perish — which is what we deserve for a lifetime of disobedience to God — but will have eternal life in the presence of God for ever.
And I said last week that the conversation between the Lord and Nicodemus ended there and the rest of the passage was John’s commentary, where he announced for us that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, because the world was already condemned. It was already perishing. By rejecting God and his ways, we had already chosen the way that leads to death and destruction. And so, the world is like a building which is condemned and we’re just waiting for the builders to come with their wrecking balls to demolish it. In a similar way, the world is condemned already and we’re just waiting for the end to come. But because of his overflowing love for us, God gave his Son to save us from condemnation and to give us life in the presence of God where we will be perfectly restored in God’s image and we’ll be perfectly holy and perfectly happy for ever.
No one will see or enter the kingdom of God unless he is born again of water and the Spirit. And that’s because we need the Holy Spirit to implant in us a new life so that we’re able to turn from our sin and unbelief in repentance and we’re able to trust in Christ for salvation. Until the Holy Spirit implants this new life in us, we are unable to believe. But once he comes into our lives, and gives us this new life through the new birth, then we’re able to repent and believe. And whoever believes in the Saviour, is justified so that we’re forgiven and accepted by God. And we’re adopted into God’s family so that he’s no longer the judge who will condemn us, but instead he’s our heavenly Father who loves us. And the Holy Spirit continues to work in our lives to renew us in God’s image. And one day, when Christ returns, we’ll be perfectly renewed in body and soul and we’ll live with God in the new heavens and earth. And so, the new life which the Holy Spirit implants in us through the new birth will go on and on and on and on for ever.
Verses 22 to 30
John tells us in verse 22 that after this Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside. The Lord’s conversation with Nicodemus most likely took place in Jerusalem, where the Lord had gone with his disciples for the Passover Feast. But now they leave Jerusalem and head out into the countryside. And John tells us that the Lord spent some time with his disciples there and baptised. According to what we read in the very next chapter, the Lord wasn’t actually baptising anyone, but it was his disciples who were doing so. So, when John tells us here that the Lord was baptising, he must mean that he was overseeing his disciples who were baptising the people. And I should add that baptism signifies the good news of the gospel and how God is willing to wash away our sins because of Christ, who gave up his life on the cross to pay for all that we have done wrong. Through faith in him, our sins are washed away for ever. And baptism signifies this.
And then the Apostle John, the writer of the gospel, tells us that John the Baptist was also baptising people at Aenon near Salim. According to the Apostle, he chose that place because there was plenty of water there. And they needed plenty of water, because the people were constantly coming to him to be baptised. There was a continuous stream of people who were coming out to John in the wilderness to be baptised by him. And in case any of John’s first readers were wondering, the Apostle adds the little note in verse 24 that this was before John the Baptist was put in prison. You might recall that Herod, the local king, had put him in prison after he had denounced the king for marrying his half-brother’s wife. And in due course, Herod had John the Baptist executed. But before all that happened to John, he was baptising lots of people at this place near Salim.
It’s not clear why John the Baptist was still baptising people now that the Lord had come. After all, John had been sent by God to prepare the people from the coming of the Lord. And the Lord has now come. And so, we might have expected that his work was over once he had pointed out the Lord to the people. But for whatever reason, John was still baptising the people.
And it seems that an argument began between some of John’s disciples and a certain Jew. What were they arguing about? John doesn’t give us any details, but it was something to do with ceremonial washing. More literally, it was about purification. We can perhaps guess that the Jew was saying that the only valid purification rites were the ones commanded by God in the law of Moses and that John’s baptism was unlawful. That’s presumably what they were arguing about, but we don’t really know. But it’s not really important. The important thing is what happened next. John tells us that they went to speak to John about the Lord Jesus.
And you get the impression that they’re sounding a bit miffed about the Lord. They sound jealous of him and his growing popularity and they complain that he’s now baptising people and everyone is going to him. The implication is that everyone used to go to John, but now many are going to Jesus. And John’s disciples — his supporters — are annoyed about this. After all, John was first. He was the first one to baptise people like this in the wilderness. And they now resent this newcomer who is doing it as well as he’s becoming as popular as John. That seems to be what they’re saying.
But John will not have them think like this about the Lord Jesus or about himself. He says to them in verse 27 that a man can receive only what is given him from heaven. That is to say, a man can receive only what is given him from God who is in heaven. And that’s something we all need to learn and remember. Whatever gifts we have, whatever abilities, whatever possessions we have, whatever successes we enjoy, have come to us from God. He gives them to us and we receive them from him.
We like to think that our successes are due to our own skill and ability. But everything we are and everything we possess and whatever accomplishments we achieve in life, we have received from God, who made us and who determines what we will be and do. He makes one person good at one thing and another person good at another thing. He gives one person an immense talent for something and he gives the rest of us not talent at all for the same thing or only an average talent at best. The life we live is the life God has given to us. Our life is, in fact, a calling from God and he calls us to use whatever skills and abilities he gives us and whatever opportunities he places before us for his glory. He calls one person to serve him in very public ways and another person to serve him in obscurity. And it all comes from him.
And lest we complain and say that he has been mean to us, we should remember that what we all deserve from God is his wrath and curse, because all of us are sinners by birth and we sin against him continually. And so, whatever good we’ve received from him is more than we deserve. And none of us has the right to complain about the way God has determined our life.
But it seems that John’s disciples were complaining. It didn’t seem right to them that the people, who once went to John, are now going to Jesus, who came after John. And so, John teaches his disciples that he, John, can receive only what is given him from God in heaven. God had called John to serve him in the wilderness and the length of his ministry and the length of his influence on the people is determined by God. If it’s God’s will for John’s influence to fade away and for the Lord Jesus’s influence to grow, then so be it, because God is good and his will for his people is good as well.
In the Larger Catechism’s question and answer about the third petition in the Lord’s Prayer it says that we’re to ask God to make us by his grace able and willing to know, do and submit to his will in all things with humility, cheerfulness, faithfulness, diligence, zeal, sincerity and constancy like the angels in heaven. Instead of murmuring and complaining about the way our life has turned out, or instead of being envious that God has given someone else something we desire for ourselves, we must pray for the help of our loving Father to accept his will for us and to trust that he knows what is best.
And John the Baptist went on to say to his disciples that they had heard him testify about himself that he is not the Christ. That is to say, he always said that he was not God’s Spirit-Anointed and Conquering King. He had said this plainly to everyone who asked and he knew that his calling from God was only ever to prepare the way for the Christ who was to come. As he says in verse 28, God had sent him ahead of the Christ. In other words, John always knew and had testified that he would always be in second place. It was not for him to be in first place. And he always knew that his role was a temporary one and that someone else would come and would eclipse him. He knew this was the case and he did not resent it, because that was the will of God for him and God’s will, like God himself, is good.
And so, John always knew that he was always going to be the bridegroom’s friend and he would never be the bridegroom. The bridegroom’s friend in those days was like a best man today, except that there was more to do and the bridegroom’s friend had more responsibility than a best man today. It was an important role and one of his responsibilities was to watch over the bride until the groom appeared. Today, everyone waits for the bride, but in those days, everyone waited for the groom to appear. And the friend was to watch over the bride until the groom appeared.
And when the groom finally appeared for the wedding, the friend’s role was over. His work was complete. He was to stand aside and let the groom take his bride. And instead of being upset, the bridegroom’s friend rejoiced, because what he was waiting for and getting ready for had happened.
And John is saying that he’s like the bridegroom’s friend and the Lord Jesus is the bridegroom. And now that the bridegroom has come, now that Christ has appeared, John’s work is finished. He’s to step aside, because the Lord Jesus has come from heaven for his bride, which is the church. And John is not resentful. He’s not envious. He’s not upset. He’s happy, because this is what he was waiting for.
And John concludes what he says to his disciples by saying the wonderful words of verse 30. Referring to the Lord Jesus, John says about him: ‘He must become greater; I must become less.’ Since the Lord Jesus is God, then he cannot really become greater, because he is infinitely and eternally and unchangeably great. There are no limits to his greatness. And he has always been great. And his greatness cannot change, because he cannot change.
But John means he must become greater in the sense that more and more people will come to see his greatness. More and more people will recognise and acknowledge his greatness.
On the other hand, everyone must think less and less of John. And they must think less and less of John, not because John has done anything wrong, but because everyone must focus their thoughts and their attention on Christ the Saviour, because he’s the truly great one and John is nothing in comparison to him.
And that’s a verse which every one of us should take as a motto for our lives. Very often we fall out with one another because we don’t think people are treating us with the respect we deserve. Very often we’re concerned with our own name and reputation and we want people to praise us and to acknowledge how great we are and to recognise the great things we have done. Sometimes we’re looking for recognition and prestige and praise. And we fall out with others when we don’t get it. Or we’re envious of those who receive the praise we want for ourselves.
But instead of thinking about our own name and reputation, we should humble ourselves before the Lord and we should make it our aim in life to glorify him. Our prayer should always be for God to let us become less and less and for Christ to become greater: greater in our own lives and greater in the lives of everyone else. We don’t want people praising us, but praising him. We don’t want people following us, but following him. Whatever gifts and talents we’ve received from God, we’ll use for his glory and not for our own. And whatever successes we enjoy, we’ll ascribe them to him and not to ourselves. He must become greater and we must become less.
Verses 31 to 36
In the following verses — verses 31 to 36 — the Apostle John explains why the Lord must become greater in our estimation and why John must become less. Although the NIV puts these verses in quotation marks, as if they were spoken by John the Baptist, I think it’s more likely that these are the words of the Apostle John.
And he begins by saying that he who comes from above is above all. And, of course, he’s referring here to the Lord Jesus. He has come from above, because he has come from heaven. He is the divine Word we read about in the opening of the gospel, who was with God in the beginning and who is God. The Lord Jesus is the divine Word. He is God’s only begotten Son, who is begotten from the Father before all ages and who is God from God and Light from Light and true God from true God and who came down from heaven and was incarnate from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and was made man. I’m quoting from the Nicene Creed which we’re studying together on Wednesday evenings. And the point is that the Lord Jesus is the one who has come heaven. He’s God’s only begotten Son who came from heaven and became one of us. And since he’s God, then he’s above all created things.
By contrast, the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth. The Apostle John is now referring to John the Baptist. But what he says about John embraces all of us. We are all from the earth. We are all earthly. We are not heavenly creatures, but earthly creatures. God made us to dwell on the earth and we belong here. By contrast, the Lord Jesus, who comes from heaven, is above us. He is over us.
And so, the Lord Jesus must become greater in our estimation because he is greater than us. He is from heaven, whereas we are from the earth. He is the Creator, whereas we are his creatures. He is God and we are his creation. We are therefore below him and he is above us.
And when someone like John the Baptist speaks, he speaks as one who is from the earth. And that’s true of all of us. When we speak, we can only speak about earthly things, because that’s all we know. By God’s grace, we can also speak about heavenly things. But when we speak about heavenly things — when, for instance, we speak about God — we can only do so because God has revealed these things to us from heaven. Left to ourselves, we can only speak about earthly things, because that’s all we know.
By contrast, ‘he testifies to what he has seen and heard’. Do you see that in verse 32? The Apostle John is referring in this verse to the Lord Jesus. And he’s talking about the things the Lord Jesus has seen and heard in heaven. He’s referring to what God’s only begotten Son has seen and heard from God the Father in eternity. The theologians say that in begetting his Son eternally, the Father communicates to him everything it means to be God. And so, whatever the Father is, the Son is. And whatever the Father knows, the Son knows.
And God the Son came down from heaven to testify to what he has seen and heard from the Father about the Father and about the Father’s will for our salvation. But look at verse 32: ‘no-one accepts his testimony.’ When he was on the earth, the majority of the people did not believe in him. They rejected him. And they did not listen to him. The Pharisees and teachers of the law argued with him. The people doubted him. In the end, they shouted for him to be crucified. And when he was on the cross, they mocked him and hurled insults at him. And then they killed him. No one accepted his testimony, even though he is God and he came down from heaven to testify to us of what he had seen and heard from the Father in heaven and to make known to us God’s willingness to save us from the path of destruction we had chosen for ourselves.
And yet, it’s clear from what the Apostle says next, and it’s clear from what we know by experience, that there are some who accept his testimony. They are some who believe. The majority do not believe. Most reject him. But some do believe and they accept what he has revealed. And we know from the Lord’s conversation with Nicodemus that they’re able to accept his testimony because they’ve been born again of water and the Spirit. The Holy Spirit enables some to believe because the Holy Spirit implants new life in some and that new life produces repentance and faith in them.
And so, some accept his testimony. And whoever accepts his testimony certifies that God is truthful. That’s in verse 33. We still certify documents today, don’t we? Perhaps we certify a document with an ink stamp or with a signature. But we stamp the document or we sign it in order to certify that what the document says is true. And so, what the Apostle means is that those who accepted the Lord’s testimony about God certify that God is true.
And isn’t that an interesting way of putting it? You’d expect him to say that they certify that what they have heard from the Lord Jesus about God is true. But he doesn’t say that. He says that they certify that God is true. And he puts it that way because of what he goes on to say in the next verse. So, those who accept his testimony about God certify that God is true, because — verse 34 — he speaks the words of God. Whenever he was on the earth, speaking to the people and preaching to them about the kingdom of God and salvation, the words he spoke were the very words of God. God was speaking to the people through him. The message he proclaimed was from God. And so, to believe him meant you believed God who was speaking through him.
And the reason he was able to speak the very words of God is because he himself is God. He is God in the flesh. And that means that every time he spoke, it was God himself who was speaking. To hear him was to hear God, because he is God.
However, the Apostle also refers here to the Holy Spirit. Do you see that in verse 34? He says that ‘the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, because God gives him the Spirit without limit.’ Why does he mention the Holy Spirit?
It’s because there’s a pattern or there’s an order to the way God works. God always acts from the Father through the Son and by the Holy Spirit. I’ll say that again: God always acts from the Father through the Son and by the Holy Spirit. So, for instance, we believe that God the Father created the heavens and the earth through the Son and by the Spirit. That’s the pattern. That’s the order. The heavens and the earth were created from the Father through the Son and by the Holy Spirit.
And given that order or pattern, we can say that when the Lord Jesus was on the earth, God the Father was speaking through him. The message came from the Father and through the Son. And do you remember how the Lord began his public ministry? He went into the tabernacle in Nazareth and read from the prophet Isaiah about how the Spirit of the Lord was on him to enable him to preach good news to the poor. And so, the Father was speaking through the Son and by the Spirit. And that means that whenever the Lord Jesus spoke, whenever he preached, he spoke the very words of God because God the Father was speaking through him and by his Spirit.
Why then must the Lord Jesus become greater in our estimation and why must John the Baptist become less? Because the Lord Jesus is so much greater than John. John was from the earth, whereas the Lord Jesus is God the Son, who has come from heaven. And the Lord Jesus testifies to all that he has seen and heard and received from the Father in heaven. And God the Father speaks through the Lord Jesus by his Spirit so that he spoke the very words of God. That’s why the Lord Jesus must become great in our estimation. That’s why we must listen to him and love him and adore him and worship him.
And then the Father loves him and has placed everything in his hands. That’s in verse 35. And everything means everything. And so, we are in his hands. What happens to us in this life and in the life to come is in his hands. No one would say that about John the Baptist, but we can say it about the Lord Jesus, because the Father has placed all things into his hands. And whoever believes in the Son has eternal life.
And notice the present tense there. Whoever believes in the Son has — present tense — eternal life. So, we receive it right now in the present. We receive eternal life whenever we first believe in the Lord Jesus for salvation. And because we already possess it, then when we die, our souls will go immediately to be with the Lord in heaven above and to wait for the resurrection of bodies. And then we’ll live with the Lord in body and soul for ever and for ever in the new and better world to come.
But whoever rejects the Son will not see life. They don’t have it now and they won’t receive it ever so long as they continue in their unbelief. So, instead of having eternal life in the presence of God, instead of enjoying perfect peace and rest and happiness in God’s presence, the wrath of God remains on them. It remains on them and it will never be taken from them so long as they remain in their unbelief. But the way to escape the wrath of God and to receive eternal life and happiness in the presence of God is to believe in the Son, who was lifted up on the cross so that whoever believes will not perish under the wrath of God, but will have eternal life.
Sermons and Stuff 