OK, I have 10 o'clock and the clock on the wall has 10 o'clock, so we want to get started and give Barry all the time he, maybe not all the time he wants, but all the time he needs anyway. Hope you've had a good week. The Lord has blessed us with a A return of fair weather after the cool rainy days, and so we're grateful. I'm sure like you, like me, many of us got out and did some things outside yesterday, and it was a blessing to be able to do that. I just want to testify of the Lord's goodness that I'm glad I can get out and do things now, post-surgery and do pretty much what I want to do because God certainly could have seen fit for it to go the other way. And so I'm grateful just to wash a vehicle and run the weed eater and those kind of things. So praise the Lord for that. I want to begin with our reading from the Valley of Vision and then Barry is going to begin this morning his teaching series. And I don't know how long he's going to do it. It doesn't matter to me. I just told him get started on the first Sunday in April. So that's what he's going to do here in a few moments. Let's hear our prayer reading and then we'll pray and then Barry, you come. This selection is entitled Christian Love, something we all need to ask God to create more and more of in our hearts. A lover of the loveless, it is thy will that I should love thee with heart, soul, mind and strength. And my neighbor is myself, but I'm not sufficient for these things. There is by nature no pure love in my soul. Every affection in me is turned away from thee. I am bound as a slave to lust. I cannot love thee lovely as thou art until thou dost set me free by grace. I am free and would serve thee for I believe that thou art my God in Jesus and that through him I am redeemed and my sins are forgiven with this freedom. I would always obey thee, but I cannot walk in liberty. any more than I could first attain it by myself. May thy spirit draw me nearer to thee and to thy ways. Thou art the end of all means, for if they lead me not to thee, then I go away empty. Order all my ways according to thy holy word and make thy commandments the joy of my heart, that by them I may have happy communion with thee. May I grow in thy love and manifest it to mankind. Spirit of love, make me like the loving Jesus. Give me His benevolent temper, His beneficent actions, that I may shine before men to Thy glory. The more Thou doest in love in me and by me, then humble me the more. Keep me meek and lowly and always ready to give Thee all honor. Amen. Let's bow for prayer. confess that many times we would, in an honest examination of our hearts, would have to say, as Peter said those three times, Lord, I have a fondness for you, as you would ask us, do you love me unconditionally? So, Father, we pray like no doubt he prayed that you would increase our love. And we know that the Holy Spirit is given for that very purpose. In fact, he is the love of God, as Paul tells us in the Roman letter. We pray, Father, that we would have greater love for you, for it's impossible to love one another if we don't have greater love for you. We pray you'd kindle that in our hearts even today. We thank you for this beautiful Lord's Day. We're not negligent to thank you for the weather you've given and for the provision all this week that you've made for us, Lord, and from protecting us from known and unknown evils. We thank you. You pray now that you would help our brother, Barry, that you would speak through him. Give us ears to hear your word and to let it lodge in our hearts that it might change our direction in every area where we need change and where we are walking in the right course. May it confirm us and encourage us and strengthen us. So, Lord, we lay ourselves before you today and ask you to feed us on the truth of your word and prepare us in this hour for the worship hour to follow us so that all that's done today please you help us. Lord, we wait upon you to speak. And we pray it in Jesus' name and for His sake. Amen. It's always good to have someone to speak to when you're teaching. So we have several here today. Sometimes there's only a few on Sunday mornings. So I'm thankful for that. I thank God for that today that we have our church family here. As I look back over the five or so decades of my life, I realize that there have been a lot of people that went before me. a lot of people that experienced the same things I've experienced, that went places I've been, did things I've done, had children, lived, and of course most of those people I'm referring to now are dead. They've gone on to their reward if they were Christians and certainly to hell if they're not. So I think of that, the heritage that we have as believers, of faithful men and women through thousands of years, speaking the words of truth, speaking them consistently, speaking them often, sometimes in peace, sometimes in turmoil, sometimes freely, sometimes in bondage. So we have a great As the scripture says, a great cloud of witnesses around us. We should be thankful for that. We should be thankful for that. Brother Sammy mentioned I'm going to do all the Sundays of April. That's OK. Today is kind of an introductory to what will be going over the other three Sundays in April. So that's where we begin today. I'm going to read a passage of Scripture. This is not the text, but it's an introduction. So this most of today is introductory. So I pray that and ask that you would be pleased to pray for me as I study this, as this is not new material to me. It's something I've been contemplating and thinking about for well over a year. Just sometimes little portions of Scripture kind of lodge in you and they begin to take root. And they begin to form in you and kind of change your thinking, change the way you view things. And so this was just one of those for me, and I hope it will be for you as well. In Isaiah chapter 40, verses 1 through 8, we read, Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak comfortably to Jerusalem and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished. that her iniquity is pardoned. For she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. Verse 3, the voice of him that cries in the wilderness, prepare you the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill shall be made low and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. The voice said, Cry, and he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is as grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field. The grass withers, The flower fades because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it. Surely the people is grass. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the Word of our God shall stand forever." And I would add my Amen to Isaiah 41-8. Voices. You can hear my voice right now, right? And I can look out even though You're not speaking to me. There's a sense that which you are by either your attentiveness or lack of attentiveness or indifference or complete interest. So everything has a voice. And as we contemplate and meditate on the idea of a voice, a lot of things come to our mind. Some of us have a good musical voice. We sing nicely. Some of us may have a baritone or a tenor, different parts of the voice. Some of us may have a really good voice inside, but we tear it up getting it out. That's the kind that I have. I've always said I have a really good singing voice. It's just when I try to get it out of the package, it breaks every time. So she might have a lovely singing voice. I can still hear my mother's voice telling me, you know, I should eat certain things and not eating certain things. My grandmother's voice when she would be humming and singing in the kitchen. I can still hear those voices, even though right now I can't hear them. I can still hear them in my mind's eye. Another little bit of symbolism there. I can hear my dad saying what would happen to me if I continued speeding, what the what the consequences would. be for that. So we may have a voice. We may want to have a say so voice in everything that happens to us. That's another idea of the word voice in making an important decision. We may listen to the voice of reason or this group or that group or this organization or that organization may be speaking with one voice, some idea or concept. It's a complex idea, like the voice of nature. You know, in Psalm 19, two and three, the works of God are said to have a voice, you know, day into day, utter speech and night into night, knowledge. There's no place where their language is not heard. The voice of nature, the voice of God's creation using nature in the right sense of the word. So voices have many shades of meaning, just like hearing and just like seeing. We see things and we hear things physically and spiritually. So in Isaiah 40, verse three, it's kind of a concentration this morning and by way of introduction, this phrase that's translating the voice of one that cries, a voice of one that's crying in the wilderness, prepare you the way of the Lord. It's a bidding call of invitation. It is a proclamation that something good is coming out of the wilderness of one thing. Some path is being made. Something is being straightened out for you. That's why I made the allusion to those that went before us, that those that kind of blazed the trail. I don't know how many of you have been hiking in different places around the country, around the world. I've been to several. And I'm always thinking, who made this trail? It's such a nice trail. And I'm thinking, what if I had to make this trail? Could I make this trail across some path that no man has been there before? No allusion to Star Trek. That no man's been there before, but could I do that? And what would it require to do that? You think of going through the jungles, you know, with no trail, with machetes and people and carrying things on their backs, water, mosquitoes and all the things that go along with that. But this one is a bidding call that the way has been made already. There's a trail here through the wilderness and we've laid low these hills and valleys and made a way for you to get through. So it's a voice of comfort similar to verse 1 and 2 where it says, Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, speak comfortably. This voice is speaking of comfortable news. in this particular Scripture. So here, as well in other places, the word voice is full of meaning. It's not just a sound of intelligible words. It's not just words. But it's content. It's peace and prosperity. It is an eternal, prophetic voice that is instructive and proclaims and announces, Messiah has come. The voice shouting, heralding a coming, rising potentate. This is good news for the believer. And this voice alluded to in Isaiah 40 verse 3 is none other than John the Baptist. John the Baptist is mentioned a lot in the Scripture. There are many verses in all four Gospels. There are some subjects and historical situations that are not mentioned in all four Gospels. There are lots of them, in fact. Sometimes we'll only have one or two Gospel accounts of some event, but the person of John the Baptist and the Accomplishments and the work of John the Baptist are mentioned in all four Gospels. All four Gospels. This is important. That is not a minor thing. He is an important character. He is declared in the Scripture to be what we would call the forerunner. He is declared in Scripture to be that one that cried in the wilderness, prepare you the way of the Lord. And we see it in Matthew 3.3, if you want to jot these down for later. In Matthew 3.3, for this is He that was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare you the way of the Lord. Mark 1.3, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare you the way of the Lord. Make his path straight. Luke 3.4, the voice of one crying in the wilderness. In John 1.23, he said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the Lord. As said the prophet Isaiah. This is John the Baptist. The voice in the wilderness that's proclaiming that the way has come. He is not the way, but he's saying that the way has come. That every path is lit. Every jungle trail is widened and made straight. Every barrier of the wilderness, of the law, of the mountain of a priestly office, of the sacrificial institutions of blood, that these are all moved aside. And there's a better way, a superior way, that that way has come. Who was this guy, this man, John the Baptist? I'm sure all of you have known, perhaps you've not looked in detail at what this particular man did. So perhaps a biography of John Baptist would be in order, just by way of review. Who was this man? He was born of parents, just like we. He had a mother and he had his father. It was a little odd though, wasn't it? His mother and his father, they were old and she was barren past the age which women normally bear children. We find that in Scripture many times when God is about to do a good work and many evidences of Scripture of men where God gives children to barren women. Women that may be barren, often that may just end up having one child or something like that, usually it's a special blessing that God is giving. And that child will be a special child. So praise God for that. His father was a priest, just a common priest. You know, he goes in and burns incense. He does the things that priests do. An old man. They were declared to be righteous. They didn't have any children. Aged. Those were John Baptist's parents. Who would have thought? He was declared by the angel, by an angel, as this angel came to both Zacharias' father and then also to Mary, who was the mother of Jesus, that he would be great in the sight of the Lord. This is found in Luke chapter 1 and in Luke, mostly in Luke chapter 1, that he would be filled with the Spirit from his mother's womb. And then, if you remember, when Elizabeth, the mother of John Baptist, met Mary, she said, this child has leapt in my womb. So, he was filled with the Spirit from his mother's womb. And it's said that he would have, he would possess the Spirit of Elijah in turning many to righteousness. This was a very, very special man. He was the cousin of Jesus. Cousins. Mary and Elizabeth were cousins, so therefore their offspring would be cousins too. He was the cousin of Jesus. Mary and Elizabeth being cousins. That's in Luke 1.36. He was a prophet. He was a prophet. He was the last of the Old Testament prophets. In a sense, we find that in Mark 1, in Matthew 11, 13, in Luke 16, 16. He walked in the spirit of Elijah. We find that in Matthew 11, 7-14, Jesus' own words as declaring who this man, John Baptist, was. It's another special thing. He baptized Jesus Christ. Now, this would be an honor. He baptized Jesus Christ. He didn't want to, but the Lord made him baptize him. You have to do this, that all righteousness would be fulfilled. He was said to be a just man. And he was feared by Herod. It is said that Herod enjoyed or liked to hear John the Baptist, even though John Baptist was constantly reproving him, and there's a big lesson in our day, was constantly reproving him over an issue of marriage. He was married to his brother's wife. He destroyed the marriage and married his brother's wife. John Baptist told him, that's unlawful for you to have her. Brethren, is it wrong for us to say to the ungodly that it is not lawful under God's law for them not to do one thing or another? I say that it's not. We should be doing it. All men are guilty before God. They're guilty from that holy law. But he was just and he was feared by Herod. Herod really didn't want to kill him, but he was tricked into killing him. But he was beheaded for his reproof of Herod, of the unlawful marriage. You know the story how that his unlawful wife got his somewhat promiscuous daughter to do a dance, and then Herod was probably so taken by drunkenness and reveling and things to where she asked for John to be baptized. He'd given his word before a bunch of witnesses, so they go, cut off his head and kill him. There's a lesson in this for us, just as a side event of application. Often those unbelievers that we interact with over and over and over, they like us. You know, there are unbelievers that you like, and there are unbelievers that like you. And you seem to have some sort of resonating fellowship at some level, some relationship with them that's not standoffish. Beware. Beware from this lesson how that could end up. Beware. That those that in the world may seem to love you the most, could end up being the ones to take off your head. Remember those things. And if God be in it, you'll not change it anyway. So this is John Baptist. He's a godly man. He was a prophet. And he was killed for that reason. So today and over the next three Lord's days, we're going to look at a short phrase in a passage of Scripture that has kind of captured my focus over the last year or so, maybe year and a half. You know, you read through something and you read something year after year after year and just read over it and you don't think anything about it. And then all of a sudden you read it one time and, you know, the Spirit of God Or your time is just there to where it means a lot more to you and you need to glean something from it. So I've been doing that. So the ramifications and lessons to be gleaned from one short phrase point to one glorious event. One wonderful, glorious event, and it's prophesied in Isaiah 9, verse 7. where it says, Of the increase of His government and peace, there shall be no end. No, that is not the phrase that I'm referring to. It's kind of the forerunner of that phrase. Of the increase of His government and peace, there shall be no end. Speaking of the government and increase of Christ, A few weeks ago, Brother Sammy allowed me to speak in the second hour. We went into John chapter 3, the first 20, 21 verses. And that was a conversation that Jesus had with Nicodemus when he said, you must be born again. You have to be born again. You can't see the Kingdom of Heaven unless you're born again. And so there was an interesting discourse between those two that we covered a good bit. But then the second half of that that chapter going from verse twenty three, twenty two, all the way to the end of the chapter, there's another conversation. This conversation is with this forerunner. This John Baptist and this this chapter three of John is an interesting gospel turning point. In that, here we have, for the very first time in the first part of John chapter 3, Revelation, you must be born again. There's no sacrifice, there's no priestly order, there's no hierarchy of people, there's no works that you can do. The only way you can enter this kingdom is to be born again. And in the second half of this, we have this final prophet of the Old Testament, this man, John Baptist, cousin of Jesus, who would soon be killed after this saying. There's one here that's come, it's come. And he says something in there that we'll review in a few minutes that is the phrase that we'll be looking at. over the next three Lord's days, Lord willing. So turn our text is in John chapter three, verse 22 through 36. And we'll we'll take the remainder of today just to do a quick overview of that entire passage. And then we'll get into more detail over the next Lord's days, beginning in verse 22 of John chapter 3 says, And after these things, Jesus and his disciples came into the land of Judea, and there he tarried with them and baptized. Brethren, this baptism thing is important. Meditate on what baptizing means and what it means all through Scripture and means in today. And John was also baptizing in Anon near Salim because there was much water there. Kind of puts the quail on sprinkling, right? When you think about it, they needed a lot of water to do this. You know, if you're baptizing a million people with a teaspoon of water, you don't need a lot of water. But if you're going to dunk them, you're going to need a lot of water. For John was not yet cast into prison. If you remember, John was cast into prison. Then there arose a question between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purifying. And they came unto John and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou bearest witness, behold, the same baptizes, and all men come to him. John answered and said, A man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom. But the friend of the bridegroom, which stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. This, my joy, therefore, is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease. He that cometh from above is above all. He that is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earthly. And he that comes from heaven is above all. And what he hath seen and heard, that he testifies. And no man receives his testimony. He that has received his testimony hath set this seal, that God is true. For whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God, for God gives not the Spirit thy measure unto him. The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into his hand. He that believes on the Son has everlasting life, and he that believes not on the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. So here we have this, we'll look at it kind of more verse by verse. Here we have this second conversation in this chapter, the first conversation with Nicodemus and Jesus, and now John's disciples with John himself. As you can see that these disciples, hey, you know, we know you've said these things, but there's this guy over here, I think he's your cousin. He's getting more disciples than you. See, they're all going to him to be baptized instead of you. So let's examine that a little closer. So back to verse 22. And after these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judea. After what things? After everything in front of that, after this conversation with Nicodemus, after when Jesus said that destroy this temple and I'll raise it up in three days after these things. There had been some conversations before that because he tarried with them and he was baptizing them. Remember, John preached the baptism for the remission of sins. Repent and be baptized. You know, forsake your evil works. Be content with your wages. You know, all these things that John Baptist was teaching. People were coming unto Him and they were being baptized. Well, how did they know to be baptized? How did they know that? Because the Jews had been baptizing things all along. Things. You notice I said they had been baptizing things. They used to immerse their tables. They would immerse their utensils. They dumped those things and cleaned those things in preparation for true worship. So there was a lot of history of baptizing among the Jews. But here this guy, John, comes along and they're baptizing not things, they're baptizing people. People are getting dumped. So there's some consternation going on there. So he was there baptizing. And John also was baptizing in Anon. We mentioned that there was a lot of water there. Did I mention that there was a lot of water there? I think I did, didn't I? Brethren, Baptists have historically been immersers. There's something to it. Our forefathers that were Baptists believed this. Let us not forsake it. Because there was a lot of water there. And John was not yet cast into prison. Then in verse 25, we see something interesting happen. There arose a question. between some of John's disciples and the Jews without purifying. Well, I wonder what that question was. I think I know what that question was. Why are you washing all these heathen? Why are you washing all these common people? Why are they being immersed instead of the utensils of worship? So there was a message there. So they began to perhaps even in John's disciples, there was a little bit of leftovers, you know, from from that system as well. Perhaps they were a little more well to do, even though John himself was certainly not well to do. He was a lot like Elijah in that he kind of dressed sort of funny, kind of fuzzy clothes, lived out in the wilderness for a long time, ate all kinds of strange things, ate bugs, and just stuck his finger in honeycomb and ate that. So he was a little bit of a strange fellow. But he had a following. So they had some question about purifying. So then they said, Something else was going on. Remember, these Jews were probably not ignorant of this Jesus either, who also had a following. And they came to John and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with you beyond Jordan, to whom thou bearest witness. So they had seen that. What was it that happened that he bore witness of? If you remember, right before he baptized and he saw Him coming, And He said, Behold, the Lamb that takes away the sins of the world. Look, there He is. That's the guy right there. He's going to take away the sins of the world. You bore witness of Him and He even baptized Him. What an amazing story. Now this guy is baptizing and all men are coming to Him. We don't have as many people coming to us now because they're going to this other guy and he's got some people with him and they're going to those guys and they're being baptized. This was calling. You see, we have a little transition going on here. And John, in all the humility and understanding of his role and who he was, says the following. John answered and said, a man can receive nothing except it be given to him from heaven. John all of a sudden freely admits that his office and what he's doing is a gift of God to him from heaven. But if someone gives me a gift, that don't mean that I have all gifts. If someone gives me a handful of gold, that doesn't mean that I'm going to get the whole sack. If someone gives to me a small Christmas gift of a new wallet, that doesn't mean they're going to fill it up, does it? So we see that John, in humility, and this was a humble man, in the heart of humility, in its maturity, allows us to be in the place that God has us without trying to usurp the gifts and callings of another. So John, in humility, handles this very well. It's a gift. I have a gift from God. And he says in verse 28, you yourselves bear me witness that I said I'm not the Christ. Why would I expect all men to come to me? Why would I expect to be the one that takes away the sins of the world when I've already said it's another, it's not me? Why would I do that? You've heard me say it, that I'm not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. He was that. That axle, if you will, that flipped from the Old Testament side to the New Testament side. He said, OK, this priesthood is done away with. This blood sacrifice is done away with. This hierarchical order of men and these men that are in juxtaposition between you and God in a sacrificial system are done away with. So this is that John the Baptist. where he says, I'm just sent before him. He had a mission. And that was his mission. He that has the bride is the bridegroom. Think about that. He that has the bride is the bridegroom. When a man is marrying a beautiful young woman, the best man does not get to have that woman. Is this not true? Think about that. He that has a bride is a bridegroom. Who has the bride? Christ has the bride. John Baptist did not have the bride. He that has a bride is a bridegroom. But the friend stands and greatly rejoices. It's a happy thing. This man has found a wife. This is, the scripture says, is a good thing. And he's found it. And he's happy with it. He's happy that his friend has gotten a wife. He said, this my joy therefore is fulfilled. I'm glad to see that all men are coming to Him. He's the one I've been telling you about. He's the one that has opened up the way. He was the forerunner. He's the guy with the machete that cleared away the path and said, here it is. There it is. Go that way. And then verse 30, which is the phrase that we'll be discussing the next three Lord's days, is verse 30, John chapter 3, where he says, John says, he must increase. But I must decrease. He must increase, but I must decrease. A short phrase that has kind of lodged in me over the last year or so. We'll be talking much more than that. Then he goes on to kind of explain that. John did not come from above. So John immediately goes, this one that I pointed to, look where he came from. He that comes from above is above all. He that is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He that comes from above is above all. This idea of above all is really big. Christ is over all. He's over all. created order, seen and unseen. He is over all. And He has been eternity past and is now and will be eternity forward over all. This is settled. This is not up for debate among Christians as to who Christ is. He is that one potentate over all. John says he's from above. I'm just a guy down here on the ground. I was made of a mother and father. Verse 32. And what he hath seen and heard, that he testifies, and no man receives his testimony." Christ has seen and heard many things, dwelling in the heavenlies. And men are unable to receive that testimony except it be given them from above. Referring back to this situation in the first part of chapter three, when Jesus was talking to Nicodemus, where he says, you must be born again. You cannot even enter or see the kingdom of heaven except you be born from above, not from below. We can't be born from the earth and see the things of God. We can only be born from above. He that hath received his testimony hath set his seal that God is true. The spirit that's in us bears witness with us that we are the children of God. This is the seal of God upon us, is an inner witness. Now men, we can debate with, and women, brethren, we can debate with unbelievers, those who have not believed, those who have not embraced the things of Christ. We can do that day in and day out. And certainly we should be willing to defend the faith. But they will not believe God is true. unless the seal of God has been placed upon them in that inner witness, and they're born again. It cannot be any other way. And we must stop and cease from trying to explain the gospel of Jesus Christ from an earthly term. We explain it from above, that you must be born again. You cannot see these things unless you be born again. For whom God hath sent, speaks the words of God, Jesus. For God hath not given the Spirit by measure unto him." In other words, you and I have the Spirit by some measure. We still battle with our flesh. We still battle with our thoughts. Certainly John Baptist did too. Certainly the best of men, even Elijah did. Even Moses did. Even Joseph did. Daniel. All these men have certainly They only had the Spirit in a measure, a certain amount of it. The Spirit dwelt in them concurrently with their old nature, and they just didn't always mesh well. And I think that we would all acknowledge that when we look in the mirror and when we go about from day to day, that that is a reality with us as well. We have only a little bit of it, but this Christ, There's no measure. It is complete. He is it and it is in Him, on Him, around Him. It is all invasive of who He is. It's without measure. There's no withholding of any part of it for Christ. And then immediately it says, the Father loves the Son. And by way of understanding, the Father loves the church because the church is in His Son. This is a good thing to know. It's a good thing to know that God loves us. I always kind of get this weird feeling when someone says, God loves everybody, God loves you, all of these things. But this is one thing I can say to God's people, God loves you. God loves you. God loves me. He is love for His people. The Father loves the Son and has given, here we again, all things into His hand. All things is a very, very infinitely wide category. He's given all things into His hand. He that believes on the Son has everlasting life. The reason we believe on the Son is because we have everlasting life. That sentence to the American mind is somewhat odd. He that believes on the Son has everlasting life. Our mind says, oh, we've got to believe so we can have everlasting life. But the Senate says that the reason you believe is because you have everlasting life. It is in you. And he that believes not on the Son shall not see life. But the wrath of God abides on him." The wrath of God abides on him. So brethren, this is a wonderful passage of Scripture for meditation. And over the next three Lord's Days, we're going to take that verse 30 turn it as many ways as my mind can turn it and my soul can turn it, which is probably not many. But we're going to look at the various ways in which He must increase and we must decrease. I think we would all agree that for the most part, men like their increasing of themselves. But as Christians, we have to speak with John and say, he must increase and I must decrease. What was John saying when he said, I must decrease? Here's this guy that had gotten quite a following, quite a group of people surrounding him, and all of a sudden he said, hey, it's over. There he is. They're going to go to him. He might as well have said, I'm going to die, because that's what was about to happen. It wasn't long after this that he was thrown into prison, and it wasn't long after he was thrown into prison that he was dead. Brethren, our own decreasing might mean this. Perhaps it means that. Perhaps it means that for Christ to increase, we have to decease. Perhaps it means that for Christ to gain all in the sense of in our eyes and in the eyes of his church, that we lose all. These are the offenses of the cross. The first offense of the cross is that there's nothing you or I can do to save ourselves. It is the work of a poor carpenter from Nazareth. It's only His works that will be accepted to God. Another offense of the cross is that we are not needed for anything for God to accomplish His works. If this doesn't help us decrease, then maybe God will help us decrease going forward. But as Christ increases, as we go back to Isaiah 9, 6, what did we say? Of the increase of His government and peace shall be no end. Amen. Let's pray. Our Father in God, we thank You for Your mercies. They are good ones. Father, they are the only ones we know, but Father, we would not have any other ones except yours. Oh God, please help us as a church to love one another, to love you, to love you fervently, to be willing to decrease in our own eyes. Oh God, have mercy upon us. We ask you to bless our worship, the preaching, the taking of the Lord's Supper, that Jesus Christ would be exalted. And it's His name we pray. Amen. You have heard Christ exalted this morning, and for that we rejoice. You've heard man abased this morning, and for that we rejoice also. I was thinking as he concluded something that Dr. Campbell says quite often, He says, Son, a sinner and a saint got only one option, and it's the same. Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God. That's what we got before us, and so may God help us to do that with grace and appreciation across the world. It's about ten minutes, and we'll come back and start our evening.