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We're going to look at John 3
now. We're going to combine the teaching
with our Lord's Supper teaching as well this morning. We're going
to be looking at John 3, verses 31-36. Today we're going to finish
our study of chapter 3 of John's Gospel. And it's only the 22nd
teaching, the 22nd message I've delivered thus far. So, we're
on a pretty good pace. I saw on the internet this past
week that it took John Piper 24 sermons to get through the
end of John 3. So if we were in a race, I'd
be winning. At any rate, we've come to, as
I said, verses 31-36 of chapter 3, which I think best to take
as the words of the Apostle John. offering his own comments on
what John the Baptist has just finished saying, rather than
as the words of John the Baptist himself. We saw something similar
earlier in the chapter. If you recall, when I took verse
16 through verse 21 to be the words of John, it's kind of hard
to tell in this chapter if John starts speaking, and if so, when.
But I think in both of these cases, he's giving us his reflections
on what's just been said, in one case by Jesus, and in this
case by John the Baptist. In fact, I think if you have
an ESV or a New American Standard, no, it would be the NIV, I think.
The ESV and the NIV, I think, both end the quote of John the
Baptist after verse 30. Well, I would do the same thing.
But, you know, it could be taken either way. And I can't see any
real difference it makes to take it one way or the other as far
as the actual meaning of the text goes. I just want to point
it out to you so that when you hear me talking about John and
what John is saying in this passage, you'll know which John I have
in mind. I think it's the Apostle John
who's speaking. With that, I'll read the text and open with a
word of prayer. Because I believe that the Apostle
John is reflecting on what John the Baptist has said, I want
to back up to a John the Baptist has said, beginning in verse
25, we're told that then there arose a dispute between some
of John the Baptist's disciples and the Jews about purification. And they came to John and said
to him, Rabbi, he who is with you beyond the Jordan to whom
you have testified, behold, he is baptizing and all are coming
to him. John answered and said, A man
can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven.
You yourselves bear me witness that I said, I am not the Christ. but I have been sent before him.
He who has the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom
who stands and hears him rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's
voice. Therefore, this joy of mine is
fulfilled. He must increase, and I must
decrease." Then I think we have the Apostle John speaking now,
beginning in verse 31, reflecting on why it is that it is appropriate
that Jesus increase and John decrease. He who comes from above is above
all, including John the Baptist, would be the implication. And
what he has seen and heard, that he testifies, and no one receives
his testimony. He who has received his testimony
is certified that God is true. For he whom God has sent speaks
the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure.
The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His
hand. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life, and
he who does not believe," some of your translations would say,
he who does not obey. That's a more literal translation
here. Clearly it's disbelief as opposed
to belief, But that disbelief is being characterized by John
here as disobedience. When you're supposed to believe
and you don't, not only are you not believing, you're disobeying. So that's what he says. He who
believes in the Son has everlasting life, and he who does not obey
the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. Let's pray. Holy Father, I ask
that you will please enable me to speak with clarity and conviction
and in the power of your Holy Spirit this morning, that you
would fill me with your Spirit, that you would fill each and
every brother and sister in the Lord this morning with your Spirit,
that we might understand your word. We know that we do not
and cannot have the Spirit without measure, as Jesus did, but we
are glad that we do have the indwelling presence of your Spirit
nonetheless. to aid us, to guide us, to enlighten our hearts and
minds. For that we are truly grateful. And we ask that through
the power of your Spirit we might understand what it is you want
to say to us this morning as we prepare our hearts to partake
of the Lord's Supper together. We ask these things for your
glory and in the great name of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.
Amen. As we've already been reminded
in our reading of the text, we left off last week with the
words of John the Baptist to his disciples, culminating in
his assertion that he must decrease, that Jesus must increase. He
said that I must decrease. And beginning at verse 31 and
extending through verse 36, I think, as I've said, we have the reflections
of the Apostle John on why that's appropriate. Why it is that it
was so right what John the Baptist said about himself, and why it
is that his readers should agree with it, what John the Baptist
had said about himself. Remember earlier on in chapter
1 verse 8, backing up here, John pointed out the apostle
John, that John the Baptist was not that light, but was sent
to bear witness of that light, the light there being Jesus.
I think this is another place perhaps in which John is, maybe
he's dealing with some people still who are hanging on to John
the Baptist in his day. And he wanted to point out early
on in the gospel that John only bore witness to the light, John
the Baptist. The true light is Jesus. And I think perhaps he's
reflecting here in the way that he is about what John the Baptist
has said to drive home the point for his readers about what the
true role of John the Baptist is and why it is that John the
Baptist saw himself as he did in relationship to Christ. Why is it necessary that Christ
increase and he decrease? Well, first of all, because Christ
is the Messiah and he's not. He's the forerunner of the Messiah.
And his whole life, as we saw last week, was about pointing
to the Messiah and preparing the way for him. And now John
the Baptist, or the Apostle John, excuse me, I'm confusing my Johns
here now. The Apostle John, he wants us
to help or help us rather, to understand why this is so. And
he begins by reminding the readers, you and I, of the great difference
between Jesus and John the Baptist with respect to their origin.
This has been a theme already earlier in the book where he's
discussed the origin of Christ. And even John the Baptist said
that the one coming after him was preferred before him because
he was before him. He understood, if you recall,
John the Baptist, the pre-existence and the deity of Christ. This
is what is in the mind of the Apostle John while he's writing
this passage. The same ideas. He says, he who
comes from above is above all, in verse 31, and he who is of
the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from
heaven is above all. Notice that at the beginning
and end of this verse, John twice repeats the same idea. First
he says that he who comes from above is above all, and then
he says at the end of the verse, he who comes from heaven, that's
the above he has in mind, is above all. This means that he
wants to emphasize the truth that Jesus is sovereign over
all things and all people because of his heavenly origin, and that
includes John the Baptist. He is above John the Baptist.
He is greater than John the Baptist. He is above all. He is greater
than all. He is over all. Because his origin
is a heavenly origin. His origin is in heaven. But
sandwiched in between these two statements of the heavenly origin
and sovereignty of Jesus, John has a three-fold emphasis upon
the earthly nature of, in the context here, John the Baptist
and others like him. Literally, the Greek text could
be rendered, he who is of the earth is of the earth and speaks
of the earth. That of the earth, I just had
there three times, John uses exactly the same Greek phrase. He's trying to make a point,
isn't he? Twice he's reminded us, told us, that Jesus comes
from heaven, the one who must increase. The one who must decrease,
well, He's different than Jesus. He is of the earth. And he speaks
of the earth. Now, this doesn't mean to say
that the things John the Baptist taught were not revealed from
heaven. He was a prophet. All the prophets received revelation
from heaven that they communicated to people. But none of them have
their origin in heaven. John's point here, especially
when taken with the next verse, is simply that such revelation
is given to the prophets as they exist here in the earthly realm,
and have their origin here in the earthly realm. Thus, John
the Baptist's origin, speech, and activity are all in this
earthly realm. He's not from heaven, and he
doesn't have the same kind of connection to and communication
with heaven that Jesus has. His relationship to heaven is
different than Jesus is. He is earthly. He has no first-hand knowledge
or experience of heaven, and so cannot speak as one who does. But this isn't the case with
Jesus, as the next verse makes quite clear. In verse 32 we read,
"...and want he," here referring to Jesus, one who must increase,
and what he has seen and heard that he testifies, and no one
receives his testimony. Jesus testifies to what he's
seen and heard in heaven, as one whose home is in heaven. That's his experience of heaven.
See, John the Baptist says, with all prophets are earthly. That's
their home. They're of the earth. They're
dependent on a revelation from God in a particular way that
Jesus isn't. Jesus can speak of heavenly things
as one whose home is heaven. He has inside knowledge, so to
speak. First-hand experience of heaven
and a relationship with God that John the Baptist doesn't have. He's unique in this way. There's
never been anyone like him. And there never will be again.
He's utterly unique. But notice that the Apostle John
tells us that no one receives his testimony. Think about it. Someone has come from heaven.
And John has said in 1.14, has become flesh and dwelt among
us. God himself, he said in chapter 1, came from heaven. Became flesh, took on flesh and
dwelt among us. And nobody wants to hear what
he has to say. Imagine that. Now, when he says no one receives
his testimony, obviously he means to state the general rule here,
a general truth. This is the typical response
in his day to Jesus. And still, the general response
to Jesus is, I don't really care what you have to say. I don't
really believe you are who you say you are, that you came from
heaven. I don't really receive your testimony about heavenly
things as one who speaks as an insider, whose origin is in heaven,
who is one with the Father. That's the general rule, but
there's obviously exceptions to this rule. He's not making
an absolute statement here, because look what he says in the next
verse. He who has received his testimony is certified that that
is true. So when He said, no one receives His testimony, He
didn't mean absolutely no one. He meant that's the typical response.
That's the general rule. And those who accept His testimony,
they're the exception to the rule. It's similar to the way
He spoke earlier in chapter 1, in verses 10-13, where He said,
speaking of Jesus, He was in the world and the world was made
through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to his
own, and his own did not receive him. That's the general rule.
But in the next statement he says, but as many as received
him, there are the exceptions to the rule, to them he gave
the right to become children of God, to those who believe
in his name, who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of
the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. So we see that John assumes that
the predominant response to Jesus will be rejection of him, but
that there will be those who do receive him, although no one,
according to John, can or will receive him aside from the gracious
and sovereign work of God. We just read it to you, who are
born not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of
man, but of God. But John also says that those
who do receive Jesus as the one from heaven attest that God is
true. In the New King James it says
they've certified that God is true. But it can also be translated,
he who has received his testimony has set his seal that God is
true. Some translations take it that
way. That's what the Greek word used here literally means. It
means to seal. But it can have a figurative
meaning too. It could be used to seal something
as the owner of it and identify it as yours. It was often also
used when you sealed something, you could seal an official document
as a token of its authenticity. And I think the figurative meaning
that came out of that is what John has in mind here. We're
like the person that we hear the testimony of Jesus and we
say, I want to get out my seal and stamp that as authentic,
as true. I believe it. I attest to it. I certify that it's true. I'll
be the notary public to that," or something. So, he who receives Jesus' testimony
certifies that God is true. You see this language again where
Jesus and God go back and forth in His mind. But this implies that the converse
is also true, namely that to reject Jesus is to call God a
liar. Right? In fact, in his first
epistle, the Apostle John says this, in 1 John 5.10, He who
believes in the Son of God has this witness in himself. He who
does not believe God has made him a liar because he has not
believed the testimony that God has given of his Son. No one can say they believe God
and reject Jesus. For example, what's the testimony
God gave of his son? Remember at his baptism what
he said, for example? This is my beloved son in whom
I am well pleased. And no one can deny that testimony
without God calling God himself a liar. There are a lot of people out
there that say, well, I believe in God. I'm not sure I accept Jesus. Well, you can ask him then, well,
if you believe in God, then do you believe what he says about
Jesus is true or not? Because if you don't, you may
believe in him, but you're calling him a liar. That's not a good
thing to do. It's really bad. You talk about people like that
as being under God's wrath, and deservedly so. So no one can
receive Jesus for who he truly is without acknowledging the
truthfulness of God. I think Thomas Constable is on
the right track when he says this about this verse, Jesus
so exactly revealed God's words that to believe Jesus is to believe
God and to disbelieve Jesus is to disbelieve God. Jesus came
from heaven and said, here's what God has to say. You don't believe that. You don't
trust God. You don't believe God. What is also implied is that
Jesus speaks for God in a special way. This is made explicit in the
next verse, in verse 34. For he whom God has sent speaks
the words of God. For God does not give the Spirit
by measure. Now we could say that, in fact,
we were told earlier, John the Baptist was sent by God. He spoke
a revelation from God. He quoted the Old Testament,
and he also added some things about who it really was that
the Old Testament was prophesying about, who would be the Messiah.
He pointed him out, called him the Lamb of God. He had revelation
from God. John's not trying to deny the
Apostle John any of that. What he's trying to say is that
though there have been those who've been prophets and have
given us words from the Lord, none of them have been like Jesus
in the utterly unique way that he did this. For he whom God has sent speaks
the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit, he says,
by measure. So Jesus speaks the words of
God in a way that no other has ever done, and we're told why.
Namely, because he has been given the Spirit without measure. In
fact, I would argue to you, he's the only human being who could
ever have the Spirit without measure, precisely because he
wasn't merely a human being. He was both fully God, as we've
been taught in this Gospel already, back in chapter 1, and fully
man. How could a human being ever
really receive the Spirit without measure? I'm not sure that's
even logically possible. Jesus had the Spirit without
measure. He's utterly unique. Not even, I would argue, the
greatest prophet of all. That was Jesus' testimony about
John the Baptist. Not even he. at the Spirit without
measure. John the Piper, who in my view
goes a bit too far off into speculation concerning the eternal relationship
of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in his treatment of this
passage. If you read his sermon or listen to it on this, he goes
a little bit too much into speculation for me on the inner workings
of the Trinity here. But nevertheless, I do think
he has a helpful comment on this point about the fullness of Jesus
having the Spirit without measure. He says this, I'm going to give
you the tip of the iceberg of what I think is here and then
challenge you to watch for it elsewhere in Scripture. God gives
the one whom he sent the Spirit without measure. What does this
mean? It means that there is an infinite, he says, difference
between the way the Son of God received the Spirit of God and
the way we receive the Spirit. The difference is that He receives
it without measure. The way the Son of God receives
the Spirit of God is measureless. It cannot be measured. Why not? Because it is infinite. God communicates,
imparts, bestows His Spirit on the Son infinitely. As much as
there is of the Spirit, the Son has. As many ways as He can have
Him, He has Him in all those ways. As fully as the Spirit
can be known and enjoyed in all that fullness, he knows and enjoys
the Spirit of God. I think there he's on solid ground
when he says that he has the Spirit without measure. You can't
say that about anyone else but Jesus. It's not even possible
that that could be true, in my view, of anyone else but Jesus, who has his origin in heaven
because he existed eternally with God. There's never been
a prophet like that. Not even John the Baptist. Remember
what the Apostle John said in the very opening of this Gospel? Chapter 1, verses
1-3, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God. In the beginning He was with
God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing
was made that was made. He hasn't forgotten this in chapter
3. This is who He's talking about.
And this Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld
His glory. Nothing like that can be said
of John the Baptist. Why is it that John the Baptist says, He
must increase and I must decrease? John the Baptist knows who Jesus
really is. So does the Apostle John. who,
even if these are the words of John the Baptist, wanted us to
have them here and included them here for a reason. He doesn't
want us to miss this point about the utter uniqueness of Christ. He has a special relationship
with God the Father that no one else has. And it's this relationship
that's further described by John in the next verse, in verse 35,
where he says, The Father loves the Son and has given all things
into his hand. It's not just that he has a spirit
without measure. There's nothing God has that
isn't in the hand of his Son. Because of this love relationship
that they have. Nothing. You can't say that about
anybody but Jesus. Who is God's Son by nature? We
all get to be called sons of God by adoption. There's only
one who's the Son of God who's His Son by nature, whose home
is in heaven, who eternally preexisted as God, with God, who created
the whole world. When John says, the Father loves
the Son, and has given all things into His hand, he hasn't forgotten
all of that that he said earlier in the Gospel. Everything the Father has, the
Son has. You compare somebody, even the
greatest prophet who ever lived to Him, and all you can conclude
is that He's got to decrease and Jesus has got to increase
in the mind of everyone. There's no other conclusion to
reach. And not just about the greatest prophet who ever lived,
but about any one of us. About any person who's ever lived.
How can anyone call themselves a believer in Christ and not
say with all their heart, He must increase and I have simply
got to decrease? There's no other possible response
to seeing Him for who He is other than that. John doesn't want
to leave off his testimony about what John the Baptist has said
without driving that point all the way home. Because heaven and hell hang in the balance, as we see in the last verse.
I mean, no wonder people were so consistently astonished at
Jesus, right? At His teaching, for He taught
them as one having authority, and that is described. He just
spoke as though He were God Himself. Nobody talked like that. No wonder
a person's eternal destiny hangs upon whether or not he receives
the Son. Verse 36, He who believes in the Son has everlasting life. You could never say that about
anyone but Jesus. The One who has simply got to
increase. If we have any idea who He is, before Him we say,
I can do nothing but decrease. I must fall on my face and worship.
I must call Him King of Kings and Lord of Lords. I must say there's no place for
me to be prideful. That's the kind of heart that
believes his testimony. He doesn't call God a liar. And
that's the kind of faith in the Son that brings everlasting life
in this context. He who believes in the Son has
everlasting life, and he who does not believe, the Son shall
not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. Now, as we saw in our previous
study of verses 17 through 21, John doesn't address the issue
of what happens here to those who have never heard the gospel,
as Paul does in Romans 1 and 2, for example. Because his interest
in writing this book is to present the gospel and to make clear
to his readers the crucial choice that is before everyone who has
heard the truth. That's the whole point of this
gospel. Remember, his purpose in writing the gospel stated,
I'll remind you again, in John 20, verses 30 and 31, he said,
And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his
disciples, which are not written in this book, but these are written
that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
and that believing you may have life in his name. John has his
ultimate purpose for writing in mind here in this verse, in
verse 36. He's written this gospel to present the truth to everyone
who reads it or hears it. And he wants everyone who reads
it or hears it to understand this very important truth. You
cannot remain neutral. Either God is true or He's a
liar. Either Jesus is who He said He is or He's not. Either
you believe or you disobey the Son. There is no middle ground. If you've read this much of the
Gospel so far, He's brought you to a crossroads. There's a choice to be made. You're going to accept Jesus
for who He is or you're not. Now he's going to hold that choice
before you through the rest of the book too, different ways. But that's the choice we all
have to make. No one may remain neutral. If you're here this morning and
you haven't come to know Jesus as your Savior and you think
you're on some middle ground, you are sadly and sorely mistaken. If you never in your life Understood
it. Understand that after having
heard what you have heard today, you cannot walk out of here a
neutral person. You are not a spiritual Switzerland.
Right? You are taken aside when you
walk out of here. You either are saying, I believe
Jesus is who He said He is, and shouting with all of my might
with John the Baptist, He must increase and I must decrease,
or you are walking out of here calling Him a liar on your way
to hell, and there is no in-between. When John says that he who believes
in the Son has everlasting life, he means to say that eternal
life isn't just some future hope. It's a present possession. We
don't experience it in its fullness now. I know that there are some
preterists out there who believe that this is the new heavens
and the new earth. That is one of the more ridiculous heresies
I've ever heard. This isn't the new heavens and
the new earth. where we're in our resurrection
bodies experiencing the need for no more light bulbs, or sun
or moon, because God is lighting everything. No more sickness
or sorrow, no more tears. We're not experiencing that yet.
That's the fullness of everlasting life. We're not experiencing
that yet, but that doesn't mean we are not right now spiritually
alive forever. We have, those of us who have
trusted Christ, as a present and ongoing possession everlasting
life. The ESV study Bible notes correctly
observe that the phrase has eternal life indicates that eternal life
is not merely a future expectation. but already a present experience.
This is sometimes called John's realized eschatology, where eschatology
means the events of the end times and the life of the age to come.
In John, this kind of life is partially realized or partially
made the believer's possession even now in this present age.
This is the life then of the age to come. We get to experience
now. Though not yet in all its fullness.
On the other hand, when John says that he who does not believe
the Son shall not see life, not just that they won't have it,
but for some reason he wants to say they won't see it. I don't know why he puts it that
way. Is he imagining someone squinting his eyes and trying
as hard as he can to get some glimpse of the blessedness that
belonged to the saints? That the Word holds life? He
can't even get a glimpse of it? Zero perception of it? Completely,
in other words, cut off from it? Maybe that's what he has
in mind. He certainly means that they
won't experience it. He means at least that much. when he says,
he who does not believe the Son shall not see life. But as I
have pointed out to you already, the Greek term here is better
translated, he who does not obey the Son shall not see life. That's
the literal translation. I think the reason that the New
King James translates it the way it does is because here it's
set over against belief. But I think John says it the
way he does Because for him, disbelief in Jesus isn't simply
a matter of intellectual disagreement with some propositions about
Him. It is rather a matter of active
disobedience toward the Son who has called them to faith in Himself. This isn't just an intellectual
exercise of do I agree or do I not agree with some propositions.
We've seen in our previous study of this Gospel that saving faith
isn't merely intellectual assent. It's actually trusting, putting
your life in Jesus' hands, and actively trusting Him. Well,
disbelief isn't a matter simply of intellectual propositions
either. It's either actively trusting
in Christ, or deliberately disobeying what He tells you, by refusing to trust Him. In fact, John sees those who
disbelieve and thus disobey the Son as having actually disobeyed
God Himself. Which is why he can finish this
verse by asserting that the wrath of God abides on Him. In other words, the righteous
anger of God toward them for their sin remains upon them. Such anger is not a violent outburst
that goes as quickly as it comes, like the tantrum of a two-year-old
child. Some people imagine God this
way, well, He gets mad, but then He gets over it. It's not what
it means here when it talks about God's wrath remaining, abiding
on someone. It is a persistent disposition
of anger the anger of God which flows from his justice and which
demands punishment. I think Merrill C. Tenney is
right when he says that the word here, orge, the Greek word translated
wrath, does not mean a sudden gust of passion or a burst of
temper, rather it is the settled displeasure of God against sin.
It is the divine allergy to moral evil, the reaction of righteousness
to unrighteousness. That is what the unbeliever can
expect from God, whether he or she senses or experiences his
judgment in this life or not. And we know from Scripture, God
does exercise his judgment on people, even in this world, whether
they see it or not. But maybe he doesn't. Maybe there
are some who get through this life and they can put together,
I don't really see God's judgment. That doesn't mean it's not coming,
because God's judgment is ultimately future. The Apostle Paul speaks of this
future judgment in his epistle to the Romans, and he even says
that those who disobey the Lord now are storing up wrath for
themselves as they await the judgment day. It doesn't matter
if they can point to anything in their life and say, I think
God's judged me. It's being stored up. Regardless, their whole life
long. Here's what he says in Romans
2, 1-5, Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge,
for in whatever you judge another, you condemn yourself. For you
who judge practice the same things. He's talking about everyone's
a hypocrite. Every human being that makes a moral judgment about
someone else, folks, is a hypocrite. But we know that the judgment
of God is according to truth against those who practice such
things. And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing
such things and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment
of God? Do you really think that? Or do you despise the riches
of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing
that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? If you haven't
been zapped already, and swallowed up like Achan, It doesn't mean judgment isn't
coming, but the very fact that you haven't been judged that
way already is God's goodness designed to lead you to repentance,
Paul says. But, he says, in accordance with
your hardness and your impenitent heart, you are treasuring up
for yourself. It's like you're taking God's
wrath and treasuring it up into this account of wrath. Storing
it up in a wrath storehouse, as it were, just so it can all
be poured out on you in its fullest at the end. He says, in accordance with your
hardness and your impenitent heart, you are treasuring up
yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous
judgment of God. Be not deceived. Just because God doesn't judge
everyone now, doesn't mean it's not coming. This is the kind of wrath that
John has in mind in the passage before us. And he wants us to
know that it may be avoided by the grace of God through faith
in Jesus Christ. And this leads to preparation
for the Lord's Supper. Because we can also see how this
text helps those of us who have trusted Christ as our Savior
to prepare our hearts for the Lord's Supper. Since it's through
his death on the cross that Jesus removed God's wrath, from us
forever. We're told that his death is
a propitiatory sacrifice, a propitiation by his blood. Propitiation is
a wrath-ending sacrifice. This wrath is sometimes spoken
of figuratively in the Bible as a cup that sinners are made
to drink in God's judgment. I'll give you a few examples.
Psalm 75, 4-8 says this, I said to the boastful, do not
deal boastfully. And to the wicked, do not lift
up the horn. Do not lift up your horn on high.
Do not speak with a stiff neck. For exaltation comes neither
from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is
the judge. He puts down one and exalts another. For in the hand of the Lord there
is a cup. And the wine is red, it is fully
mixed, and He pours it out. Surely its dregs shall all the
wicked of the earth drink and drain down." He's saying there's
this cup of judgment coming. God's going to pull it up to
the lips of that sinner and force it down his throat. In Isaiah 51.17, He says, Stand up, O Jerusalem, you who
have drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of His fury, or
as the ESV translates it, the cup of His wrath. You have drunk the dregs of the
cup of trembling and drained it out. Think about it. Imagine
this vivid metaphor. There's a cup of wrath, of God's
fury and His wrath, that He's holding up to their lips and
forcing it down, and these people are trembling in fear. knowing what's happening to them. This cup of trembling. No one wants to pick it up and
drink it. But they'll drink it. When God pours it down their
throat, they'll drink it. This metaphor is also used later in
the revelation of God's judgment on those who worship the beast.
It's the most Hellfire Brimstone sermon I've had in a while, right? Later in Revelation, he says
about the beast in Revelation 14, 9-11, those who worship the
beast, "...then a third angel followed them, saying with a
loud voice, If anyone worships the beast in his image and receives
his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he shall himself also
drink the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full
strength into the cup of his indignation." Indignation means
righteous anger, his wrath. He shall be tormented with fire
and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the
presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment
ascends forever and ever. And they have no rest day or
night who worship the beast in his image and whoever receives
the mark of his name." That's the kind of judgment later on
he says is coming to everybody in Revelation 20. Who isn't in
the book of life, who isn't trusted in the Lord to save them. It's
my contention. I went into all that to say this.
It's my contention that this same cup metaphor was being used
by Jesus in Gethsemane when he said this. He prayed three times. Oh my Father, if it is possible,
let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will,
but you will. You know what he was praying about there? He wasn't
afraid of dying a physical death on the cross. That's not what
he was praying about when he prayed that. He was talking about
the cup For me and for you. That's what he was talking about.
He drank down the cup of trembling. He had the cup of God's wrath
forced down his throat. Figuratively speaking. He knew
it was coming. And he willingly took it. That's
why he's a propitiation. That's why he's the wrath-ending
sacrifice for all those for whom he died, who trust in him. But thank God when we come to
predate the Lord's Supper, we drink a different kind of cup.
It's a cup of remembrance. When we get to remember that
Jesus drank a different cup for us, the cup of God's wrath, We
get to drink a cup celebrating what He's done. And I tell you,
when we do it, our hearts should be crying out to God, He must
increase and I must decrease. That's the only possible response. So let's take some time, a few
moments to pray Prepare our hearts to partake of the Lord's Supper.
Examine your hearts, as Paul says. Ask God to forgive you
any sins that you're aware of, and ask Him to forgive you for
the ones you're not aware of. And remember that it's all possible
because Jesus drank the cup of God's wrath for you. And if you're
not a believer, I hope today you'll put your faith in Jesus.
I hope today you'll trust Him. But I need to tell you, the Lord's
Supper we're going to take part in together now is not for you. It would be a great blasphemy
for you to partake of it. It would mock what Jesus did.
So we ask that you not partake. There, I fenced the table. Let's
pray.
Jesus Must Increase, We Must Decrease
Series The Gospel of John
| Sermon ID | 26121645526 |
| Duration | 46:49 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | John 3:31-36 |
| Language | English |
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