The gospel according to Luke and the third chapter we're going to be considering verses 15 through 20 in the preaching of the word today and You might remember if you're here with us last time the last time John exhorted John the Baptist Exhorted the people that came to hear him preach. He exhorted them to repent of their sin and And this time he's going to point them to the Lord Jesus Christ. So last time, turn from your sin. This time he gives them the destination, which is Jesus. And so this will be the last time we consider John for quite some time. And fittingly, as he himself has said, he is decreasing so that Christ may increase. So with that, please turn your attention now to the reading of God's holy word, Luke chapter three, verses 15 through 20. This is the holy inspired word of the Lord. And as the people were in expectation, And all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ or not. John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water. But one mightier than I cometh, the lachet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose, he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner, but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable. And many other things in his exhortation preached he unto the people. But Herod the Tetrarch, being reproved by him for Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, added yet this above all, that he shut up John in prison. Amen. May God bless the reading of his holy word. Let's pray for the preaching of it. Our father and our God, we stand now before the preaching of your holy word. And we ask Lord that your blessings would be upon this preaching of the word. that the preacher would, as John himself exhorted, that the preacher would decrease, that he would see what John said, he that hath the bride is the bridegroom. But the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. This my joy therefore is fulfilled. So we don't come, Lord, to hear the voice of a man who is the friend of Jesus. We come to hear from the bridegroom himself. We come to hear from Jesus. So give us the spirit of God. Give your preacher a spirit, the spirit that comes from God, and give your people that same spirit to hear. To that end, Father, we pray, Lord, that you would come to these people. because I come to them not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, but to declare unto them the testimony of God. Let me not know anything among them save Jesus Christ and him crucified. I am with them in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. So let my speech and my preaching be not with the enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power. that their faith, these dear people, that their faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but rather in the power of God. For we ask this for Jesus' sake. Amen. Well, friends, when a minister finally realizes that he has nothing, nothing better to give his people, nothing greater to give them but Jesus Christ, then he will find great blessing in the ministry that is entrusted to him. The truth is, as John is going to demonstrate for you, friends, Jesus Christ is your greatest need. And if you would recognize that, friends, each and every day of your life, not just on the day of your conversion, if you would recognize that each day of your life, if you would know his greatness, you would look to Him to fulfill your every need. For justification, for sanctification, for power and strength, for wisdom, for compassion, for even companionship, for everything. I want to preach today, out of this text, something that is very plain and maybe we take for granted, but we need to dive into it. The truth that only Jesus is the Christ which is what John preached. John preached to them, as I have said last time, he preached to them repentance. But today, he shows you what he has to offer. He had nothing to offer them. Yes, he commanded them to repent, but what did the man have to offer the people? Christ. Christ, friends. And if you would recognize what John recognized and what John preached that day, that Jesus has to be your all in all, you would find, I'll connect this back to the book of Hebrews. You will find when you are insufficient to take the next step in the race, you would not despair, but you would ask this simple question, which is the title of the sermon. You would ask yourself, am I the Christ? And you would say, no. and you would turn to Jesus who is. And when your fellow man, whether it is your pastor or your president lets you down, you would ask, is he the Christ? And you would say no, and you would turn to Jesus who is. And when you minister to those who are broken or in need of salvation themselves, and you grieve over your inability to break into their stony heart, you will ask yourself, am I the Christ? You will say no, and you will turn to Jesus who is. And if I myself as your pastor would recognize that I am not the Christ, that I cannot save you, and I cannot sanctify you, I would exhort you as Paul did, my little children of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you. Galatians 4 verse 19. And so I want to preach this theme then, out of John's example in this text, out of the two simple exhortations that are found on your bulletin. The first is to look to Christ's might. And second, to look to Christ's heart. So first, to look to Christ's might. And as you consider your need for Christ, consider the people's question in verse 15. As the people were in expectation, this is after John's preaching, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ or not. Now their musing undoubtedly came out of the power of John's preaching. You know, as we heard from John, the Apostle John's gospel, he is a man sent from God. with the aroma of Christ all about him, the power of the Holy Ghost working in his preaching. He preached repentance, he preached judgment, and he preached faith. And by the power of the Holy Ghost, he pricked their sinful hearts and made them thirst for righteousness. Something they never felt from rabbis and scribes who taught what? Ceremonies and tradition. But his preaching friends left them longing and in expectation for Christ in a way they never had before. So in their hearts, they asked the question, could this man, so mighty a prophet, be the Christ himself? Due to his gospel preaching, many confused Christ's forerunner with the Christ himself. And that was common. You remember in the prologue to John's gospel, the Apostle John, he writes, there was a man sent from God whose name was John. The same came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all men through him might believe. He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light. The Apostle John had to make it clear that John the Baptist was not the Christ. There was this confusion at that time. But instead, John the Baptist was a mighty witness for Jesus. And I think you understand this confusion well if you consider Christ's own words of John. In Luke 7, he says, I say unto you, among those that are born of women, there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist, but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he. Now, up to the point of Christ's birth, no greater prophet than John had been seen. Now, we maybe sometimes remember Matthew's version of that account, or Matthew's accounting of it, and it seems broader in Matthew's account, saying there's no man greater than John until Christ. And that tends to be how I've found most people remember it. But the narrow sense in Luke's account is actually Christ's meaning. As a prophet, none greater than John had arisen." John's prophetic revelation, why is that? It's because John's prophetic revelation was greater than any who had come before him. He could point directly to Jesus and say, behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. And that was the very thing, wasn't it, that the prophets longed to look into. Remember 1 Peter 1, of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you, searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify. You see, they searched for what John revealed. And that's why he is the greatest prophet, because John could preach Jesus and John met Jesus. You remember, even at a young age, three, we prayed, our elder prayed about the scourge that is abortion in our land. And we remember 30 years prior to this, John the Baptist leaped in the womb at the presence of our blessed Savior. Moses, Elijah, Isaiah, they were never so blessed, friends. John was greater than they. And so, as befitting one who had the greatest revelation of all the prophets, John rightly understood how small he is, how insignificant he was compared to Christ. And that is a consequence of being the greatest, isn't it? The man or woman who knows that Christ is far above them is counted greater in the kingdom of God. For the greater a man is in the kingdom, the lower his estimation of himself is, and the greater his estimation is of Christ. Fittingly then, John said in verse 16, but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose. John saw Jesus as so far above him, friends, so much greater that he saw himself unworthy to even unstrap Christ's sandals. Unworthy not just to approach the feet of Jesus, but unworthy to touch what Jesus walked on. Boys and girls, Christ's sandals would have been far, far filthier than your and my shoes, here at least in suburbia. It would be much more akin to the kind of thing a farmer might experience and see a farmer's boots caked by a mixture of dust, dirt, and mud, even animal droppings, as that was their transportation, right? And so there are animals walking on their roads. And John says that such filthy shoes he was unworthy to even touch because they came off the blessed feet of Jesus Christ. And that's not just some false humility. It's not just rhetoric. This is a true saying, worthy of all acceptance, friends. None of us, none of us, not even the greatest of saints is worthy to approach Jesus Christ. You and I must all humble ourselves before him. You and I must, by his help, break the fallow ground of pride in our hearts. Yes, John was the greatest prophet, but he was just a sinner like you and me. He was just a man like you and me. But in comparison is Jesus, whom the fullness of the Godhead dwelleth bodily. Both perfect God and perfect man, sinless man, beyond compare, none can compare to him. As we have already seen in the prologue to Hebrews, or as we sing in our Psalter, thou fairer art than sons of men. Into thy lips is store of grace infused. God, therefore, thee hath blessed forever. Yes, John preached by the blessings of the Spirit's power. Yet Jesus preached as God come in flesh, and he ministered as God. There is an infinite gulf then between John and Jesus, and between you and Jesus as well. And John saw that the gulf between him and Christ extended in many important dimensions. The first is a saving dimension. In the rest of verse 16, after he says he would baptize with water, he said of Christ, he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. John could only make them wet. in essence, with his baptism. But Jesus would do what the people really needed to be baptized by the Holy Ghost. Fire and water, boys and girls, are both associated with the Holy Spirit in the scripture. And so we have fittingly then water and fire here in this text, both pointing to Christ. They both signify the work of the Holy Ghost to apply Christ to us. It signifies both cleansing and purifying. John could only do an external work, washing away of dirt on the flesh, perhaps. And if his work was blessed, it would only be because Christ worked in that work. by sending His Holy Spirit, who applies Christ to you, who is like fire in your souls, converting you and giving faith to you. And then fire, you have to also realize, is not just destructive, right? We saw this in the book of Malachi. It's also purifying. It's also purifying. This is the sanctifying refiner's fire of Malachi. And so the fire of the Holy Ghost also purges us from our corruptions. John could wash them with water, but the work of Christ by the Holy Spirit could wash their hearts, something that goes beyond. What man has that power, friends? None. 1 Corinthians 6.11, but ye are washed, ye are sanctified, ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. John could well preach your need for salvation. John could preach your need for repentance. But it is Jesus who will save. It is Jesus who is the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world. And John knew how mighty Jesus would have to be for that work. And so if the first gulf between John and Jesus was a sanctifying one, And this is a sobering thought, the second gulf between John and Jesus is a condemning one. In verse 17, he says, his winnowing fan is in his hand and he will thoroughly clean out his threshing floor and gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable, unquenchable fire. There's two parts to that. The first is connected to what we had just seen. He will gather in the wheat into his barn, meaning his elect, and linger on that truth for a moment, friends. Those of you who believe on the gospel will be saved. This is a definite sense here. He will gather the wheat into his barn. You will be saved by the power of Jesus. You are kept by his power. You are gathered by his power and not your own. You are not the Christ, praise God. but unbelievers and hypocrites, this is a warning, this is a shot against them here, against those who will not repent. He says, unbelievers and hypocrites, he will burn with unquenchable fire. If you are here, you need to hear that. He peers into your soul, this Jesus does, even now, in a way that I cannot, in a way John cannot. If you do not turn to Christ, he says he will burn you with unquenchable fire. Unquenchable fire. That is the power of Jesus. Yes, John can preach about hell, but Jesus has the power of hell. He has the key of hell. and he will burn the chaff with unquenchable fire. That's the power to administer divine justice. It's the power to cast sinners and the devil into the fires of hell, something no mere man can. You know, some marveled about Jesus asking, who is this man who can forgive sins? Well, what you need to ask out of our text is to be astonished at this question, who is this man who can condemn? If you were without faith in him this morning, I beg that one day you not wake up in eternity and be astonished at your own condemnation at the hands of Jesus Christ. It's a far better thing, friends, to join those of us who believe in marveling that we could ever be saved through faith in Jesus Christ. That's a far better thing. Why should you burn in unquenchable fire for your sins? Turn to Jesus in faith. He has the power to forgive and cleanse you from all of your sin. John understood what a great thing that was when he said, behold, the lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world. He did not add any qualifiers there because there are no qualifiers. Everything that you have done can be forgiven in Jesus. And it took his power to pay for all of that on the cross. And that's what astonishes me most, right, about Christ as a sinner, that all my sins are washed away in his blood, as black as they are. And that truly takes the power of God. No man can save you from your sins. Only Jesus can. And so John rightly saw, for such a one as this, he was not worthy to touch the latchet of his shoes. Jesus is worthy of being worshiped as God in the flesh. He is the light, John was not. Jesus can do what sinners like us need. Not John, nor an angel, nor anybody else you trust in today, friends. And that's the mindset you must have. I am helpless without Jesus. You must always remember, I am not the Christ. I cannot do what is proper alone for Christ to do. John knew that. You might try to attain to heaven, friends, but you cannot without Christ giving you his righteousness. You might try to atone for your sin, but you cannot. Only Christ can forgive. You can try to be wise in your own eyes, but I am a fool. Only Christ is wise. I can try to mortify my sin with my flesh, but only Christ has the power. I try works of righteousness and I find no fruit. Only my union with Christ can produce them. I try to run the race, but I look at my lame feet and I stumble and I fall and I trip. I try to save others and then I measure my own words and even my own tears and I despair. and I forget that it is Christ's work to gather in the wheat and not my own. Yes, I continue to weep for them and give them the words of life. That's my responsibility, but I don't do it as one without hope as I look to Jesus for hope. We need to get into our minds, friends, from top to bottom. We are not the Christ. Only Jesus is. We think we have power, we think we are righteous, we think we have wisdom, and we are none of that. Only Jesus is any of that, and only Jesus is all of that. What did the Lord say? I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me ye can do what? Nothing. He didn't say something. He said, you can do nothing. So ask the question daily, am I the Christ? Am I the one who will set things right? No. He is mightier than I. He alone can do what needs to be done. He alone can save the wretched man that I am. And so when I am insufficient, I look to Christ, and we have such trust through Christ towards God, not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God. 2 Corinthians 3 verses 4 through 5. Friends, to go back and connect to an earlier thought, your greatness is found in how well you know you need Jesus. John was the greatest prophet because he knew Christ the best of them all, which is why Jesus says that the lowliest minister of the gospel in the kingdom is greater than John. John said, behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. But the lowliest minister, such as myself, the lowliest minister of the gospel, such as I, knows the cross and Christ's blessed words on it. It is finished. The lowliest minister in the kingdom knows or should know that the veil was torn from heaven to earth when he died on the cross, that the earth did quake and the rocks rent, and so we preach salvation accomplished. We know the suffering, resurrection, and session of the Lord in a way that John did not. And we can, out of this word, point you to Jesus in a way more profound than John ever did. For the heart of John, though his revelation was limited compared to ours, was to point the people to Jesus and away from himself. His preaching, if you just surveyed it through the Bible, his preaching always preached Christ up. He must increase and I must decrease, John 3. John was not the Christ and he was quick to acknowledge it as you must too. And you know, John gave many other testimonies on Jesus, and maybe we'll consider some of that in our sermon discussion time. But for the sake of our time, let's move to our final heading, which is to look to Christ's heart. Having established Christ's might, let's look to Christ's heart. And as we do so, as we remember that we are not Christ, we have to remember our proper station. We are the servants of Christ. And as his servants, you and I are in constant need of his grace. And what is remarkable as I consider the end days of John, and this is where this comes out of, we find that his grace flows from a heart willing to minister to you if you would just go to him, as John himself found out. And sometimes the reason we don't go to Christ is we don't know or don't see his heart in that matter. But this time with John shows us something of the heart of Christ. As we look, we're gonna look at a couple other texts associated with the end of his days. And before we do that though, let's look at what we see in verse 19. You know, for one of the problems that we often have is that we serve the Lord and sometimes we suffer for it, right? And sometimes that's when we find that we make a shipwreck of our faith. when we attempt to do something for the Lord and we suffer. Well, look at John here. He suffered for acting righteously and not sinfully. Don't let that discourage you. It is going to happen. In verse 19, but Herod the Tetrarch, being reproved by him for Herodias' brother Philip's wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, added yet this above all, that he shut up John in prison. So, John, a lot of you boys and girls know this well, that John preached against the evil of Herod taking Herodias as his wife. We'll get to that a little later as we go through the gospel. But he also preached against other evils, right? And for all the evils which Herod had done, and they were many. John was a faithful minister of the gospel. He reproved Herod, a civil magistrate, and that is proper for ministers to do. Don't buy the lie that a minister cannot preach against a politician. That is just an ungodly American teaching and not a biblical one. Before it, he was thrown into prison and eventually was beheaded for it. So to do what is right in the sight of Jesus Christ may cause you to suffer, friends. You may not get your reward in this life, but in the life to come. In such times, what are you to remember as you suffer for Christ? You're to remember those words that John preached earlier, I am not worthy to unstrap the latchet of the shoes of Christ. to remember that my life is all about Him first. I am nothing and He is everything. I must deny myself and follow Him, even if it leads to my martyrdom. But for you and I, at least so far, it's not usually martyrdom that causes us to suffer, though it may seem romantic to some. And I hope that that is not the case. But for us, where we tend to suffer is to do those things that are hard for the flesh, those things that are against the world, to give up our sin, to give up worldliness, to repent of our sin in the fullness of repentance as we heard last Lord's Day. Some of us have had to give up family or jobs or property for His sake. Do such things not cause us to suffer in this world, friends? To suffer for Christ. Our Lord has even said that you would suffer in those ways. Are those things going to be easy on you? No. Are those things going to require great faith in Jesus? Yes. And in such times, you're going to find that that is the time when your faith is tempted to waver in Jesus. So I'm going to take us to near the end of John's days, when he himself was rotting away in prison. In Luke 7, verse 20, he sent two of his disciples to Jesus to ask, art thou he that should come, or look we for another? You know, some commentators, with the best of intentions, believe that John asked this question to strengthen the faith of his disciples. that John did not struggle with the question of whether Jesus is the Christ, but his disciples did, and so he sent them instead. They believe, and I know where they're coming from, friends, they believe it is preposterous that a man who once encountered Jesus and said so boldly, behold the Lamb of God, a man who saw the heavens tear open and heard God say, this is my beloved Son, would struggle with doubts of whether Jesus was the Christ when he was in jail. But the text in both Matthew and Luke seems very clear. In Luke 7, Jesus tells John's disciples, go your way and tell John what things you have seen and heard. In Matthew 11, more pointedly, go and show John again those things which ye do hear and see. Friends, I think in an attempt to salvage John's character, which does not need salvaging, as you'll see, good commentators forget that the faith of all of Christ's disciples wavered when things did not go as they expected. Link John with Peter, for instance. Peter denied our Lord three times. Did he not hear God say, this is my beloved son? Did he not even see what John did not? Jesus transfigured. Did he not confess with his own mouth, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God? Did he not deny our Lord three times after that? Friends, we need to be open to John's struggle. And if we would, we would remember the very words of John. I am not the Christ. Only Jesus is. John was not perfect, he was not sinless, neither are you and me. And so I was very glad to see by the time of Matthew Henry's commentary, you see that there is that willingness to see that John did struggle with his faith. In prison, no doubt, could you imagine it? Languishing in prison, he struggled as many do when they suffer for Christ. Think of the kinds of questions he might ask of himself, friends. Why am I being forsaken if Jesus is the Christ? Why would the one that I am related to, even by blood, let me languish in the prison house if he is Messiah? I did what is pleasing in his sight. Why am I here in jail? Why has he not rescued me and used that mighty power that works in him to rescue me from jail? I have served him so well. Does he not care about me? How many believers are tormented by thoughts of unbelief when they suffer? Does the devil not like to torment us in those times? And what does the devil and our flesh manage to do? who managed to take our hearts and our minds off of Jesus just when we need him the most. But you see, John did the right thing. Even in prison, he went to Jesus through his disciples. He reached out to Jesus even in jail to have his doubts resolved. As you must too when you suffer, When unbelief enters your mind, friends, go to this word. Go to the word of God to see that Jesus is who he says he is. And what is really lovely about Luke 7 is the heart of Christ to John as well. Did he berate John or his disciples? No. Could he have not said, who do you think you are? You are not worthy to touch the latchet of my shoes, as you yourself have said. And you come here with doubts. Did he quench this smoking flax, and did he break this bruised reed? No. Instead, the message he sent back to John was essentially, think on my works. My works which fulfill the promises of the word of God, the blind see and the lame walk just as Isaiah promised. If you have doubts, go to Christ in the word to resolve them and he will tenderly minister to you if you come to him in good faith. I just remember what the Lord said of John in the same chapter. Though John was so far beneath Jesus, it is remarkable to see how Jesus spoke of John after asking if Jesus is the Christ. Later in the very same chapter, very near to that question, Jesus says of John those words we considered earlier, among those that are born of women, there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist. Even after John inquired whether Jesus was the Christ or there was another, he defended John and his ministry. He lifted him up and commended him to the people. And is that not like your Jesus? To defend his own people, even when their faith wavers. What did he say to Peter? And I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not, and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. If your faith has failed, friends, or it has wavered as John's did, and as Peter's did, return to Jesus. And when you have repented, he will strengthen you as he did Peter. The danger of hearing a word like this, friends, is hearing it and not turning back to Jesus. If you have fallen friends, I want you to know this. No man knows better than Jesus that you are not the Christ. That only he is. and that you have need of him. He is glorified when you come to him to obtain mercy and find grace in your time of need, and you will be comforted by him and you will be strengthened. Boys and girls, you need to learn this lesson today. When you sin, go to Jesus. Remember, Great, by God's estimation, great men like John and Peter, godly men who wavered. Though we are not worthy of Jesus, He delights in defending us and caring for us, even when you turn and sin against Him, if you are a true child of God. And that is the heart of Christ, which is unfathomable to me as a sinner. the great king of the saints, mightier than I, and yet full of grace for his service. And in our text, consider this little detail in the list of evils Herod had done. Verse 20, for all the evils which Herod had done, added yet this above all, that he shut up John in prison. Herod had done a great many wicked things, friends, but the worst thing he had ever done was to shut up John in prison. It's a great sin to hurt the servants of Jesus Christ because of the heart of Christ towards them. He has a righteous anger to those who cause his servants to suffer. And yes, as we remember the end of the story, friends, Christ did not deal with Herod straightaway. And he had his purpose in that. He didn't smite Herod straight away because he needed to be sent to the cross through Herod for our salvation and John's as well. And so if the Lord has you in the pit, so to speak, as so many saints like Joseph and John the Baptist, remember that the Lord has a good and holy wise purpose in it, just as he did in this case. But take heart, one day the Lord will deal, this is a great evil. The Lord will deal with men like Herod if they are not converted. Vengeance is mine, said the Lord, I will repay. And I think for most of us, I think who know the scripture, you probably have marveled at this text. at the care and concern Jesus has for his servants. But it probably in the back of your mind and in your heart, you are thinking that this is such a remarkable thing, our text, that the one whose shoes you are not worthy to touch came to minister to us. And we must not lose sight of Christ's heart in that. For even the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister. And how? to give his life a ransom for many. Mark 10, verse 45. And I think it should. It should be the case, friends, that gratitude wells up in the heart of the child of God to hear that. My God, so exalted, come in flesh, that I am unworthy of the least of his mercies, came to minister to me. to live a perfect life, to give me righteousness, to then offer His soul as a perfect life on the cross at Calvary, to wash my sins clean away. Though they were as scarlet, He has made me as white as snow. And that's the remarkable heart of Christ when we consider His grace, mightier than I, yet stooping to minister to me. For those of you who know how great the Lord Jesus is, God in the flesh, you need to constantly every day be astonished of what he has done for you and continues to do. When was the last time you got on your knees to express joy and gratitude for your salvation? When have you shown that you loved much because you have been forgiven much? When have you expressed with Peter, as we consider it, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? John 13, verse six. When are you astonished that the one of whose shoes we are not worthy to touch would wash the filthy, dirty feet of sinners like us? We have forfeited, friends, you know this, I hope, every good thing from God, but have been cleansed by Christ. That's the joy of our salvation, friends, isn't it? Too many want a prosperity gospel, which is no gospel. Others want their law keeping to save them, which is another gospel. But this is the true gospel, which ministers that joyful sound. This is the gospel, Christ is the answer to Jeremiah's lament. Is there no balm in Gilead? And so I will ask again, when did you last get on your knees to express joy and gratitude for your salvation? One added realization, which is one that Jesus himself used, of the great gulf between Jesus and us, is for us, horizontally. If that gulf is so great between the mightiest saint and Christ, what is really the gulf between you and me? It's nothing. This is to recognize that on one level, friends, we are essentially all on the same level, aren't we? when we compare ourselves to Christ. When you see your relation to the Lord, your relation to one another here becomes clear. What did Jesus say? If I then your Lord and master have washed your feet, right? He is master and Lord and he has washed our feet. Ye also ought to wash one another's feet. He is the great leveler between all of us, friends, between us. When we think of each other, we must think of the might of Jesus and how far above He is from us. And when you are tempted to exalt yourself over a brother or sister or look poorly on them, you remember, I am not worthy to touch Christ's shoes, and yet He washed me. So I must not be too proud to serve another. I must not be too proud to humble myself. I've said it before and I'll say it again. The Christian man or woman is one who has been humbled before God. Humbled for their sin, humbled by their God shedding his own blood for them. Christ, recognizing that Christ has served me and rescued me when I have sat in the dunghill of my own sin, Psalm 133. or rather 113 rather. And so I remember no other sinner is too vile for me to serve and minister Christ to. The only reason pride sneaks into our heart is first when we don't recognize how great Jesus is and what a great act of condescension it was for him to minister to me. And you will miss the heart of Christ entirely. Well, as we come to the close of our time, I have to remind us that even as we serve Christ and we serve one another, remember when you serve them that you are not Christ, and neither am I, praise God for that. The only thing I can do of any value to you, friends, is to point you to Jesus. That's the only thing of any value I have to offer you as your pastor. that you would find your all in all in Him, to find your righteousness in Him, not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. Philippians 3, 9. To see all of God's promises in Him, for all the promises of God in Him are yea and in Him, amen, unto the glory of God by us. 2 Corinthians 1, 20. To find your eternity secure in Him, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life." John 3, 15. To see him as the ultimate expression of God's love for you, but God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5, 8. To show you the glory of God in Jesus. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 4, 6. To tell you as your pastor that he will deliver you from your struggle with sin, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord, Romans 7 verse 25, that he, beloved, will indeed sanctify you into his own image, but we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord. are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord, 2 Corinthians 3.18. To tell you, beloved, that He is the power and wisdom of God in your need, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God, 1 Corinthians 1.24. To turn you from your sin, I say, take with you words and turn to the Lord. Say unto Him, take away all iniquity and receive us graciously. and remind you that you will hear, I will love you freely, Hosea 14. To assure you, as a minister of the gospel, that in him you are secure, who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us, Romans 8, 34. When you are discontent, What better thing can I do than to remind you of the good possession you have in Christ? Be content with such things as ye have. For he had said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Hebrews 13 verse five. And when you need compassion, brother or sister. All I can do is point you to go boldly to your compassionate High Priest from Hebrews 4. When you are overwhelmed in your soul or in your body, all I can do is point you to sing the 61st Psalm in Christ. When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I. And I will point you, when you are full of sorrow and grief, I will point you to His gracious invitation. Come unto me all ye who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11, 28. All I can do for you is to point you to the scripture that says, when the world seems to be bearing heavy on your shoulders, all I can do is point you to the one the scripture says, for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be on his shoulder. Elders, the government shall be on his shoulder and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Isaiah nine, verse six. Friends, this is just a small dose of what the scripture has to say about your Jesus. Do you see how mighty he is? And do you see his heart as well in these scriptures? The one thing John or Paul or a minister like myself can do is show you the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord. And so I will plead as I began, my little children of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you. for you to live as though Jesus is your all in all. John, he could command repentance, but what did he have to give but Christ? John had nothing else to give the multitudes and neither do I. By God's grace this morning, that's all I can do in the preaching. So may God bless this preaching of his holy word. Amen. Please rise for prayer. Holy Father, I have done what I can by your grace in the preaching. Forgive me for my many faults in it. I have preached a word to exalt Christ and to lift up your people to his throne, but I am utterly insufficient for it. I profess, as our Lord said to profess, I can do nothing. It is Jesus who has the power to make this word take root in the soul. So I pray that you would have Christ's spirit make this word as fire and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces. To break stony hearts and humble themselves before Jesus. To give them the fire in the soul that they would find their all in all in him and not themselves. To that aim, Lord, that your saints would be edified, and above all, you would be glorified for giving us such a great and precious savior out of your love. Father, we pray that your word would take root in our hearts and our souls, and this would not be a time that was spent in vain, rather, but a time that would redound to the glory and praise of God. We pray this for Christ's sake, and in his name, amen. Our singing of praise comes from the Blue Psalter and the 71st Psalm, Psalm 71 and the C Selection. As we end our time here, we end