Let's take a moment, shall we, before we turn to the scriptures and pray. Oh, our God and our Father, you are the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth. And there is no God like you. You are the great I Am. Before the mountains were born, oh, you gave birth to the earth and the world. Even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God. You are holy. Clouds and thick darkness surround you. Fire goes before you and burns up your adversaries round about. And yet, O God, though you are most just and terrible in your judgments, yet you are good and merciful. slow to anger, and abounding in loving kindness and truth. Good and upright is the Lord, therefore he leads sinners in the way, he leads the humble in justice, he teaches the humble his way. And so, O Lord God Almighty, though you inhabit eternity, and no man can see you or has seen you and lived. Yet, O God, we pray this evening that you would condescend to come down through your Son and by your Holy Spirit and meet with us here, that we might feel ourselves caught up in the presence of God, surrounded by the all-seeing, all-knowing, all-holding glory of God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, searching us, convicting us of sin and righteousness and judgment to come, And what a serious thing it is to be men and women and boys and girls made in your image, designed for your glory, and destined for your presence in eternity. And so grant, O God, that your Word will perform its work in our hearts, growing us up in faith and hope and love, saving the lost and restoring the backslider. O Lord God, let us all decrease in this place tonight, that Christ and Christ alone would increase and be seen and be preeminent. And we offer these prayers, O God, in Jesus' name. Amen. I want to preach to you and to us all this evening from this text read just a moment before from John chapter 3 and verse 30. He must increase, but I must decrease. Men, I want to speak to you about what I think is the most difficult and challenging and most important work of a gospel minister. In fact, it's the most difficult and challenging work of any man, woman, boy or girl who claims the name Christian. And that work is dying to self and living for Christ. Less of me and more of Him. Less of me and more of Him in my mind and in my heart, in my affections, in my will, in my desires, in my plan. plans for life. Less of me and more of him in my marriage. Less of me and more of him in my relationship with my children. Less of me and more of him in my pulpit ministry. Less of me and more of him in my pastoral ministry. Less of me and more of him in my prayers. Less of me and more of him in my leadership in the session. Less of me and more of him in my engagement with the world. This is the great life of the minister. And it's the life of his ministry. Dying to self, living to Christ. And it is a hard work. It's a struggle. It's a struggle because you and I are natural born sinners. We naturally believe, born into this world, that we need more than God. to be truly happy, more than His glory to live life to its full. We need more than just being the servants of God or the mouthpiece of God, extending the kingdom of God. More than that to have life. We are like Adam and Eve in the garden, prone to reach above ourselves, grasping for that which is not ours. We think we need more than God to have life. And that sense of pride that stands always at the door shrinks back from death. Dying feels like a poor way to make a living for men and women in this world. Dying feels more like shrinking, not advancing. Dying feels more like being emptied out than it does like being filled up. feels more like death than life. And yet that is what God has called you and me to do, to die to ourselves and to live to his glory. And as gospel ministers, there is in our hearts that manifestation of pride, that desire not just to be those who make Christ known, but to be those who are known as the ones who make him known, to creep into the center, to edge God's Son out of the center of the spotlight of God's plan and purpose for this world, and to stand, and to make a name for ourselves, and to have a glory all of our own, independent, of our high calling as servants of the Most High God, as preachers of the gospel. And that sense of pride will follow you always through your ministry, and you must kill it. It'll follow you in your best moments. A couple of years ago I read a book by an anonymous author called Embracing Obscurity. It's the exact same point. I must decrease, so decrease in the picture, in the church, and in the world that I fade from view completely and that none but Christ is seen. And the author who wrote that book, he said he felt it was a message from God that God had given him and he wanted to be known as the man who made this message known. And then he wrestled and wrestled and he made the decision, no, I must publish this book anonymously. How can I make a name for myself with a book called Embracing Obscurity? And then he said, I made the decision, I sent the book off to the publisher, anonymous author. And then he said, I began to fantasize. that maybe somebody might leak my name on the blogosphere. And I'll be known by accident as the writer of Embracing Obscurity. And I'll no longer be obscure by accident. And I'll receive praise by accident. And I can revel in the spotlight by accident. Even in our best moments, guys, men, that temptation to come out of obscurity and to be seen alongside Christ as the one who makes himself known will follow us constantly. It will follow you too when your ministry is going well and you call Dr. P or some of your other professors and they ask you how things are going and you say, oh it's going really well, Lord's blessing the ministry. And you'll talk about how it's spreading and growing and the Word of God is spreading rapidly. And you'll be so happy. You'll hear his righteous pride and thankfulness to God. But then you'll be thinking, oh, this success somehow justifies me. That I've found significance. That I'm no longer a nobody. God's blessing my ministry. And the focus will come off the blessing of God onto my ministry. And you'll think, oh, I'm being successful. Then it'll hound you too in the bad days of ministry. when people criticize you. Tell you your sermons are too harsh, not enough grace, too much love. You're preaching too long. You didn't visit me in hospital when I had my minor surgery. Yes, you called me and you texted me, but you didn't visit me. And you'll start to take that criticism a little bit too personally. and you'll think of yourself and your ministry and how you're not being appreciated and what's happening is you're coming into center stage. You'll feel it too when you've been laboring for years and Suddenly five new families start visiting the church, your church, and you think, oh great, these families have got young children and they could be the nidus of the youth group and you start planning and you start reaching out to them and you visit them and you have them in your home and you attend their children's soccer games and all and a wet, windy Saturday afternoon and you're there trying to show them how much you love them and you're longing for them to come to this church and be a blessing in your church and then suddenly, one by one, They've been week after week after week, and one by one they decide to go to the left of centre community church down the road, where the preaching isn't quite so earnest and the worship is definitely not quite so reformed. And you'll take their choice just a little bit too personally, as if they're leaving you and your ministry and your church. And in a thousand other ways, in sunshine and in shadow, you will be prone to think of yourself When God's job for you is to fade into the background, that people would see none but Christ alone, to get yourself out of the way, and to leave the spotlight on the Son of the everlasting God. And this evening, I want to draw your attention to this text of Scripture and John the Baptizer. He's a man who's about to go through hard providences. He's about to lose his place in the spotlight. He's about to lose his preeminence. He's about to lose the crowds that are following him. He's about to lose his liberty, and before it's all said and done, he's about to lose his head. I mean, think about what it would have been like to be John the Baptist for a moment. You're born for greatness for God. Your name is spread across the Old Testament Scriptures. Isaiah spoke of you 700 years before you were born. Behold, God says, I will send my messenger before your face and he will prepare your way for you. The Christ. Your voice, crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, making his path straight. And you remember how Mark describes the beginning of John's ministry. How John suddenly appeared baptizing in the wilderness, proclaiming a gospel of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And then suddenly all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem, all emptying their houses, flocking across the countryside to you to hear your preaching and to be baptized by you in the River Jordan and to confess their sins. How John's heart must have rejoiced. Revival is coming down. But here we see the sun is beginning to set on John's ministry. The crowds are beginning to leave and a new baptizer has arisen. Notice how John, the gospel writer, stresses this. 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 Salim because water was plentiful there and people were coming and being baptized for John had not yet been put in prison. And so you've got John the baptizer and Jesus the baptizer and they're both ministering. They're both preaching the same message. They're both doing the same thing. But the crowds are beginning to leave John for Jesus. And everyone's noticing. The Jews are noticing. John's disciples are noticing. A discussion, a dispute arose between some of John's disciples and a Jew over purification. And they came to John and said to him, Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan to whom you bore witness, look, he's baptizing and all are going to him. And you see what's going on, don't you? What's the dispute about purification? The dispute is this. Baptism was a sign of purification, confessing your sins, being cleansed from your sins. But there's two baptizers, John and Jesus. And the crowd, they're leaving John and going to Jesus. And people are beginning to wonder which baptism is the one to go for. Do you have to have one? Which one? Jesus or John's? And John's disciples are a little bit piqued. They're upset. They're saying to John, as it were, John, don't you realize you're the guy who gave this young rabbi his first break. You retweeted his first sermon. He was with you across the Jordan to whom you bore witness. Look, he is baptizing and all will go into him. And John's response gives us a model of Christian ministry. and a model of Christian life. How do you respond when it's God's will to put you in a shrinking ministry? How do you respond in hard times? And John says four things. First of all he says, remember your need of God's providence. Verse 27, John answered, A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. Everything in your ministry, every thought you have, every message you give, every insight into Scripture, a Greek verb, a Hebrew verb, Every insight, every warm thought, every swelling of your soul, every unction in prayer, every success you enjoy, every mistake you make, every person who joins your congregation, who leaves your congregation is written above that thing, that person. A man cannot receive not one single thing unless it has been given him from above the providence of God. And we constantly forget that. We think we're the ones who write our sermons. And in a sense we do. We type and we write. But we think of ourselves in an independent way as if we have the ability in ourselves to move a soul an inch nearer heaven or further away from hell. And Jesus says you can do nothing, not one thing, you can do nothing unless it's been given to you from above. You're absolutely dependent upon the providence of God. But we don't believe that. I often don't believe that. I know it up here, but not down here. How easy it is to start preparing our sermons before we get down on our knees and cry for the blessing of God from heaven. And in those moments, were a little bit like Muhammad Ali. One time Muhammad Ali was in a jet flying 33,000 feet over the Atlantic Ocean. And there was turbulence, and the captain switched on the fasten your seatbelts sign. Muhammad Ali didn't fasten his seatbelts. The air hostess came across and said to him, sir, the captain says, fasten your seatbelts. Muhammad Ali said, Superman don't need no seatbelt. And the air hostess said, I'm Superman, don't need no airplane either. Fasten your seatbelt. Jesus says, you need me. More than your lungs need oxygen. More than your tissues need blood. More than the desert needs rain. You need me. A man cannot receive one single thing unless it has been given him from heaven. And so when the Lord in his providence takes away some of your most cherished, active church members, the sons of your ministry, say with Eli, "'Tis the Lord, let him do as seems fit to him." When you make a mistake, you say something stupid or you do something stupid, embrace yourself, it's going to happen. And you just feel so embarrassed. Remember, the word about Rehoboam's decision in 1 Kings 12. Now this came about at the turn of events from the Lord. When people criticize you, and they will, you never want to be in the wrong side of the moral controversy. And there have been times in my ministry when a chunk of the congregation was saying I was on the wrong side of the matter of controversy and the other chunk of the congregation was saying I was on the other wrong side of the matter of controversy. And you don't want to be on the wrong side of the matter. And you take it personally. And people will curse you. Remember what David said about Shimei. It is the Lord. He has given it to him to curse me. Remember your need of the providence of God. There is one in heaven who orders every detail of your life. He knows the GPS coordinate of every rock in Saturn's rings, every grain of dust in Sahara's desert, every fire ant making its way down beneath the mud and clay of the rainforest in Ecuador. and he orders the events of your life. And so when you hear a knock on your study door, and your back's to the wall, and you think, I have no time for interruptions, remember John Newton's words, when I hear a knock at my study door, I hear a message from Christ. It could be a lesson of instruction, it might be a message of patience, but because it's his message, it must be interesting. Remember also your place in God's plan. Remember your need of God's providence. Remember your place in God's plan. Verse 28, 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, but I must decrease." John says, I am not the Christ. It's not all about me. I am not the Christ. I've been sent before him to prepare his way. It's not about you. It's not about your ministry. It's not about how well people like your sermons, how well people like your ministry. It's about Christ. And when you and I forget that, and forget that we do, we become a little bit like those obnoxious people in a wedding party. It's become the new trend apparently. that in the middle of the wedding service, not the wedding service, but the wedding celebration of the party, when all eyes should be on the bride and groom, it's all about them. A guest or a member of the wedding party, one of the groomsmen, or God forbid, one of the best man will stand up and propose to his own girlfriend. And at that moment, the unthinkable happens. All the eyes in the room turn away from the young couple to the new young couple. And the bride and the groom no longer have centre place in their own wedding. What would you think ladies about a young girl who came to somebody else's wedding but she came dressed up as the bride and when she walked in she paid for the organist to play the fanfare. And she walked down the aisles to take her place and everyone looks at her. You'd be appalled at the rudeness of it and the selfishness of it. It's not about you, it's not your wedding. My little daughter, Eliza Kate, three years of age, a bundle of happy joy. Except when it's somebody else's birthday party. We give one of the other children their presents and she looks up with ill-deserved confidence and says, present me now? Present me now? And you say, no, it's not your party. And you see her shroud. What do you mean it's not my party? And John says, it's not my party. I am the friend of the bridegroom. My only purpose in life is to make sure that he is center stage, that people see him and not me. that people hear him and not me, that people admire him and not me, that people appreciate him and not me. And my joy is seeing him glorified and me shrinking into the background. And for a prideful man that feels like death and not like life, And I'm a prideful man and you're a prideful man and God is calling you and He's calling you and all of us to die to ourselves and to live to Christ and to remember our place in God's plan. It's not our party. It's not our wedding. The church is not our bride. It all belongs to Christ, the image of the invisible God, the firstborn above all creation, the one by whom all things were created. Things invisible, invisible, thrones, dominions, rulers and authorities, all things came into being through him and for him. But God forgive us when we stand up and try to photobomb that picture of Christ in the middle. Your need of God's providence. Remember your place in God's plan. Remember the glory of God's Son. It doesn't really ring very well. I really wanted to have a you're in that. Remember your need of God's providence. Remember your place in God's plan. And then remember your glorious Savior. You couldn't get it. And then I realized it doesn't matter because this is the point. You're not supposed to be in this point. It's all about Christ, his uniqueness, his majesty. Christ, the unsurpassable Christ. The one to whom God says, let all the angels of God worship him. It's about Christ. He's not first among equals. He belongs to a class all of his own, for God has exalted him like none other. 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 has been exalted by God like none other. I was driving here down the highways and byways from Myrtle Beach, on vacation, and driving down, and I was noticing on the middle of the medians in the interstate, the grass is growing, all different heights. some of the grass. The real grass is like this high. Then you've got these big, strangly, weedy things that kind of sprangle up with kind of semi-flower apparitions at the top of them, and they're taller than the grass. But they're grass, they're weeds. What would you think? How ludicrous would it be if the weeds and the grass were arguing about which one was the tallest? I'm taller than you are. No, you're not. I am taller than you are. Look at my flowers. They're so beautiful. When there's the sun in the heavens, a ball of fire 868,000 miles wide, 14 million degrees Fahrenheit at the coolest part of the corona, consuming hydrogen at 4 million tons a second, And yet with enough left over to burn for five thousand billion years. The sun. And who are we, you and me, these wee worms of the earth? And God's Son is in the heavens, exalted far above all. As the psalmist says, he humbles himself to behold the things in heaven and on earth. We recognize Christ humbling himself, stooping to see the goings on on earth. But he has to stoop, the psalmist says, to see the goings on in his own throne room. He's so exalted above them. The Seraphim, those Seraphic intelligences created by God to live in the blasting heat of infinite holy fire, these burning ones, Seraph, the Seraphim, hide their faces, unable to bear the sight of His glory. He's exalted. Before Him, your role is to get out of the way. Oh Lord, how could I even bear to stand, even in the picture? Let none but Jesus alone be seen. He is uniquely exalted. is also uniquely empowered by God, empowered by God like none other. He bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony. Whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true, for he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives his Spirit without measure. I'll come back to that verse in a second, that's the real point I want to make. Let me speak a quick word to the congregation here a second. Whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true. Are you a Christian this evening? Do you believe God is true? Let me tell you why I'm a Christian this evening. I'm a Christian this evening because the God I meet in the Bible is the same God I meet in creation, out there, and in conscience in here. I've always known Him from the earliest moment of my consciousness. He's been revealing Himself to me in His creation. It glows with His glory. And you see that and you know that. Maybe you're here this evening and you're not a Christian. Maybe you say, I'm an atheist. And you look at creation and you say, I can't see anything special. And you listen to the scriptures and you say, I can't hear anything special. Open your eyes and open your ears and listen to the voice of God. You are made in His image. You are designed to receive this revelation and you do. Just like my cell phone is always searching for a Wi-Fi signal, always searching for a cell tower to connect to. Your soul is made in the image of God. And you're designed to receive His revelation, and you do in creation. It glows with His glory. All the heavens declare the glory of the Lord, and their expanse is showing forth the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech. Night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech. There are no words. The voice is not heard, but the line has gone out through all the earth. And yes, this picture is limited. It's all picture and no words. That's the point. But it's real, and you receive it, and you look at creation, you look at the stars, and they witness to you somebody very big and very great designed these things. And you're made in his image and for his glory. And everything you have comes as a gift from his hand. And yet you say, I can see nothing special. I can hear nothing true. But listen to the voice of Christ, the great Colossus. John says, No man has seen God at any time, but the only begotten God. He who dwelt in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him. What is God like? He is like His Son. There is no un-Christlikeness in God at all, and He is the Word from the Father. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. No more things came into being through him, but apart from him nothing came into being that has come into being. He is the beginning of everything that ever had a beginning. And he is the one God has sent to speak to you. And you listen to his voice, and you know it's true. You've heard that it was said of old, Jesus says, Do not commit adultery, but I say to you, whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery in his heart and your conscience rises up and says, this is the voice of God. The voice of God. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. Whoever receives his testimony, whoever receives the words of Christ, sets his seal to this, that God is true. For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. What that means is that the reason Christ speaks so well, the man Christ Jesus, the reason he speaks so well and speaks so purely the word of God, is that God has poured out upon him the Spirit of God beyond measure. His voice is the voice of God. He's uniquely empowered. So if you want to know who God is, listen to me, Jesus says. Are you weary? Come unto me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. He's uniquely exalted by God. He's uniquely empowered by God. He's uniquely endeared to God. The father loves the son and has given all things into his hands. Think of how proud you are of your sons, your daughters. A few weeks ago, my son was playing soccer against a team. He's a new 15, he's 13, all of his team members are really 13. He was playing this team of big boys. Big brutes, 14, 15 years of age. And two months ago we played this team and they stuffed us 8-3, which is a bad score in soccer. And when the game was over, that team laughed. Laughed. At our team. The wee lads. We met them again last week in the quarterfinals. And my son was the striker. I was watching him. And he's running with the ball toward one of the defenders, big, strapping lad. Ben said, oh, Lord, please, let the defender not kill him. And Ben's running at him. And Ben feints to the right. The defender goes. And then Ben did a Cruyff turn. I thought, how did he know how to do a Cruyff turn? He did a Cruyff turn, went to the left, totally broke the ankles of the defender. The defender then cut back again in front of Ben. Ben then cut into the left, totally wrong-footed him again, had space, shot, and put the ball in the corner of the goal. And my heart, as a father, leapt for joy. I hope my son had done. He won't, but he won. My son put a pig's bladder in the back of a net and my heart leapt for joy. Well, God the Father looks down at his son, this mighty champion, clothed with our nature, who has come to undo all the things Adam did, to fix all the things sin had broken, to crush the head of the serpent. And as the father watched his son mature, as he watched his son in human nature grow in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and with man, as he learned obedience through the things he suffered and became obedient to the point of death, even the cursed death of the cross, the father's heart swelled with more and more pride as he grew in favor, not just with men, but also with God. So the Father could say, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And you see, the glory of God's Son, uniquely exalted above all things, uniquely empowered above all men, and uniquely endeared to God the Father. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. And so I tell you men, there's nothing left for God to give you. It's all been given to Christ. Remember Jacob finagled the blessing from his dad? But there was something left for his brother, Esau. It's all been given to Christ. And yet, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creation. He's part of God's Son. And all that belongs to Christ belongs to Him. Is Christ the Son of God? Then in Him, you are sons of God. Is God the Father of Christ? Then God is the Father of you. Has the glory Being given to Christ as the human mediator between God and man, Jesus says, the same glory that God has given to me, I have given to you. Does the Father love his Son? The same love with which God loves Jesus. Jesus says, oh Father, I want there to be no second-class sons in our family. I want you to love them with the same love with which you loved. And you see, that's the answer to the paradox. Dying is the way to life. As we lose everything, as we leave ourselves behind and embrace Christ, we can say, I have died. And there's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me. And as I lay all things behind and embrace Christ, I have Christ. And Christ is mine, and I am Christ. And all things are mine. And why would you want any other life? Any other life is death. This is the path to life. So remember your need of God's providence. Remember your place in God's plan. Remember the glory of God's Son. He's been exalted like none other. He's been empowered like none other. And he's been endeared to God like none other. And lastly, remember the end of all things. Remember the end of all things. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. But whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains upon him. Now, that's a verse we often hear preached as a gospel text. But notice the context. The context is a man who gets the point of history. A man who gets the point that he is not the Christ A man who says, let me decrease, and let Christ increase, and have preeminent place in all things, above all things, and in all things. And in the context of that, John says, whoever believes in the Son, Whoever trusts in Christ as the pre-eminent Lord of the cosmos, the Lord of men, and the Savior of men, has eternal life. Now again, I want to speak to you this evening. If you're here, you're not yet a believer. I want to tell you, look at the person God sent to save you. We're talking about a mind of infinite wisdom and skill. And I am so lost. And you are so lost. that the only answer God himself can think up when it comes to rescuing me from my sin is that God the Son must become flesh, and God the Son must become sin, and God the Son must become cursed. on the cross, in the darkness, as the Son of God becomes the sin of the world and is cast out onto the garbage heap, because that is where sin deserves to be thrown. And this is God's only answer to your sin. And Jesus says, trust in me and you'll be saved. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. I remember when I was at seminary, Dr. Thomas, my professor of preaching, was asking us boys, can you think up an outline for John 3.16? For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. He said, I was at the Banner Conference this year, and they asked several of the men, could they think up an outline? And one of the men said this. Yes, here's the outline. God loves the worst. He loves the world. A world that hates Him. A world lost in darkness. A world under the power of the evil one. God so loves the world, He loves the worst. He gives the most. He gave His only begotten Son. And He asks the least. That you believe in Him. That you trust Him. If you bow the knee and say, Lord Jesus, I need you to save me. I am so lost. I need you to save me from my sins, to die in my place for my transgressions. And Jesus says, if you do, if you come to me with the empty, dirty hands of faith and believe in me, you have now eternal life. Whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains upon him." That's the alternative. Life, death. And John gives us this message, guys, men, in the context of a minister, he understands the point of the universe. It's not about me, it's all about him. Could John be saying that if we live in our ministry as if it's all about me and not about Christ, what are we doing? We're not believing in the Son. We're not obeying the terminus ad quem of the universe. We're despising Christ and we are exalting ourselves. How do you feel when people despise your children? There's a Far Side cartoon of these two little boys, Johnny and Timmy, and Johnny and Timmy are fighting over a teddy bear. pulling on each arm, pulling, pulling, pulling, teddy bear. And in the woods there's a picture of the she-bear looking out of the woods angrily at Johnny and Timmy. She doesn't know it's only a teddy bear. And the caption reads, and Johnny and Timmy were neither seen of or heard of again. Because that's how we feel when people despise our children. And God the Father sent his Son into this world. A world that despises him. What will be God's response if the world says, we despise your son too? John says it's wrath. God's unremitting, unrelenting, uncompromising opposition to evil in all its forms. And so men, as we close this sermon this evening, I want to just challenge you with this. Remember the end of all things. Your ministry is but for a moment. 20 years ago, I left medicine to go into the ministry. A year before, Derek Thomas left Northern Ireland and went to America. He was 46 years of age. I thought he was an old man. Two weeks ago, I was at Twin Lakes speaking to a young minister from Scotland. 26 years of age. He didn't seem that younger than me. And then I realized, hold on a second, when I left medicine, he was six years of age. I'm getting old. Life is passing quickly. And you're going to have glorious days in ministry when the world flocks to you, I pray, and men look to you for the voice of God. Jesus did too, and yet his This great Son of God wasn't only received by men, he was also rejected by men, even though he was so exalted and so endeared and so empowered. Yet, John says, no one receives his testimony. And in those days, when you feel the favor of men toward you, and you feel as if you're being led in triumph, through the streets of the New Jerusalem on earth, and all things are going well. Remember the lesson of the arugula. The Roman slave, whenever the general came back from a mighty victory, and he'd be led in a ticker tape parade through the streets of Rome, and he would have all the captives behind him in chains, and the people would laud him. There was a slave paid to have a crown, to hold the crown above his head, and as he held the crown above his head, the slave would whisper in his ear, Memento homo. Memento mori. Sic transit gloria mundi. Which means, remember you're only a man, remember your sin will die, and remember all earthly glory is fading. There's coming a day when Christ shall return, and the great white throne of judgment will descend. And on that day, as James says, let not many of you become teachers, for you will receive a stricter judgment, will be brought out And it'll be shown then, without a shadow of a doubt, did we see that it was all about Christ and not about us. And though those ministers, you come and say, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many wonders in your name? And I will declare to them, depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. You said, Lord, Lord, with your lips, but you'd lived me, me with your lives. Oh, men, remember, it's not about you, it's about Christ. It's about Christ and your need of his providence to bless you. Your place in his plan as the bridegroom's friend. Directing everyone to look at the bridegroom. Remember his glory as the God-man. And remember the end of all things, when you and I will give an account for our ministries. You remember the story, Thomas Boston talking to a young messenger, he said, how many men are in your congregation? He says, oh, 30. He said, 30, only 30. And Thomas Boston said, son, I think 30 souls will be more than enough to give account for in the last great day of his life. May God bless you. May God fill you with His Spirit. May His glory be your rearguard and may His righteousness go before you and may you be empowered to get out of the way and to make the name of Christ great, north and south and east and west until the knowledge of God covers the earth as the waters cover the sea.