In the book of John chapter 3, John chapter 3 and verse 22, Israel for centuries was a place of worship among the Israelites, the Jews that had been given the They've been given the ordinances and the instruction from God and even the authority from God to conduct worship unto Him. Jesus has now come and is beginning His earthly ministry. And one of the saddest things you'll read in this chapter is the rejection of the Jews toward Christ. All of these years and all that's taken place during this time which should have given them, humanly speaking, knowledge of God, that they might recognize Him, but the sad fact is that they don't. It has come to the point where the majority, very vast majority of the Jews are rejecters of Christ, and there is just a small remnant at this time that are believers. In verse 22 it says, after these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judea. And there he tarried with them and baptized. Now someone who might just glaze over this may have the impression that Jesus Christ baptized himself, that he baptized people. You know, sometimes people hurriedly go into the Word of God and look at the Word of God and maybe they're going to tell somebody else about the Word of God instead of you know, reading ahead to find out what really happens and what went on, they'll just, you know, make the statement that Jesus baptized people. We don't have to read too far. Chapter four, verse two, it says there, though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples. So what does it mean in verse 22? And there he tarried with them and baptized. Well, he was with them. And they baptized him. Now that's important because we need to understand that God now has this authoritative work. The church, which he established, and his authority is there. And even though he didn't baptize himself, their baptizing carried just as much weight as if he did it himself. So it is with King's Edition Baptist Church this morning and every other New Testament church. Those things that we do in the work of the Lord, such as baptism. It is just as if Jesus himself bodily was there and is approving of what's taking place. And that's important in our context here because we're transitioning from Jewish worship and Old Testament worship into worshiping him in the church. And, you know, it puts more credence on that, doesn't it? So, everybody understands that in this day and time, that because Jesus was there, it's obvious that what they're doing is right, proper, and carries weight, and has thought So here in the land of Judea, he's with them and they're baptizing, baptizing believers. They're not just going out and just baptizing anyone and everyone just for the sake of it, but they're baptizing believers. And John also was baptizing in Anon near Salem because there was much water there and they came and were baptized. Now remember John is the forerunner of Christ. It is John whom Jesus himself sought out baptism and it's not as if there are two different factions. We have a lot of that in our day and time though. We have in history where people have started their own kind of church and then somebody came along later and didn't like what they were teaching and preaching so they started their kind of church. You have all these factions and different things going on. In this instance we have two authoritative works going on. We have Jesus with his disciples who are baptizing and then we have John who is in Anon It's akin to Salem. It was a couple of miles southeast of Salem. They were there, or he was there rather, baptizing also. Now when Jesus began his earthly ministry, it wasn't long at all until crowds started following after him. And John no longer has the crowns that he had. But that doesn't matter, does it? That doesn't matter. You know, sometimes we worry about crowns, don't we? And sometimes people are judged as to the number they have. Well, the important thing is the authority that they have. The important thing is that what they're doing is what they're doing when they get. Now, for me to go home and say I preached to a crowd this morning, that wouldn't be a true statement, but I wish you could. I wish I could, but we don't have a crowd. We don't have a large gathering this morning, as some people may have. Some of our churches have big crowds this morning. I know of a few churches that I know personally there'll be 50, 60 people there this morning. We would call that a crowd. and that is a crowd. But what they're doing and what they're doing is no less important besides determining, being the determinant factor. We are doing the same work. So John has by now lost his crowds and now they are following after Jesus. And of course that's all right. And I don't think that we ought to begrudge other people's crowns. We ought to be thankful for their crowns. And I don't believe that John did. I don't believe he begrudged the ministry of Jesus Christ. in the least, but was thankful and even felt himself blessed just to be doing what he was called to do. And notice that John didn't just quit, did he? Well, Jesus has got these crowds. No sense in me doing anything else. I might as well just hang it up. and go lay down somewhere and let him do all that. No, he was called of God to preach and he did that until he died. He did that until he was no longer able to preach anymore and was found faithful in the ministry that God had given him. So, when we read of Jesus and the disciples baptizing in Judea, and then we read of John baptizing in Anon, we see the work of God. We see the authoritative work of God, and we find that God is not discontained to one place, but God is in many places. And today, he is in many places. He is in the midst of his churches today. And it's all authoritative. Now, this anon was an area that was known for these natural springs. I read where there were seven. I'm not all I'm not sure about that, but I know that the name itself means springs. And that's being brought out that there was water there. And not only was there water, but the Bible says in verse 23 there, that there was much water. Now, why is that brought out? Of all the things that could have been said about this area, why is that brought out, that there was much water? Well, the word baptism and much water are connected. Baptism or baptizo in the Greek means to immerse. When we baptize someone, we immerse them. We put them all the way under the water. Head to toe under the water. If someone's put under the water and their little finger is left out, they've not been scripturally baptized. We need to be careful about that. I always like to have a spotter just to make sure. in that case. And I don't think we ought to worry about whether somebody's going to get too wet or they might be under the water a half a second longer than they need to be. They need to be under the water. And that's important because that is what Jesus commands Baptizo to be immersed in water to Picture a burial. I was in a cemetery yesterday. As I looked around, I noticed one thing that was in common with everybody that was in that cemetery buried, that they were buried. I didn't see an arm sticking out or a leg sticking out somewhere, but they were completely buried. in the ground. So that is the picture and that is the type showing the death and the burial and the resurrection under a new life in the Lord Jesus Christ. So there was much water there. There was enough water to do the job. I saw a man one time, he baptized this fellow and I was there, and it was in a river, and he walked out into the river, but he only went knee-deep. And I thought, now, how's this going to work? I said, you got the whole river going out there. I was thinking to myself, I'm going out there further. But he just went knee-deep, and, well, he put him down under. He didn't go all the way under, because he wasn't out there deep enough. So then they had to do it over again and they went out a little bit deeper where there was much water and the job got taken care of. So much water is brought out here in this verse. There was much water there and they came and were baptized. differences of opinions on baptism I believe that the one doing the baptizing needs to be in the water also and that they go down into the water and immerse it says in verse 24 for or because John was not yet cast into prison. When Jesus came and his ministry began, his earthly ministry, after his baptism, that was not the end of John right then. He later on had his head cut off and placed in a charger uh... but uh... that's not yet he's still he's still doing the work of the lord and he's still baptizing then there arose a question between some of john's disciples and the jews about purifying you imagine that can you believe that All this going on. Christ has come. He's established his church. And he's here on earth among them. And these Jews want to start arguing about purifying. They want to argue about how a man is clean. in other words. Now they had a lot of laws and they had a lot of rules as far as purifying was concerned. Jesus mentioned this to some Pharisees one time that they were all worried about washing their hands before they ate as if that would determine where they would spend their eternity. And they had gone that far and they had sunk that low in their depravity that even a work such as washing your hands would be a determining factor on them. I believe a person ought to wash their hands. I'm not against that. But I'll tell you, I've been on jobs where that just wasn't possible. Just wasn't possible to do that, unless you just left the job to do it. But I wouldn't worry about whether I was going to go to hell if I did that or not. And I didn't think, well, if I leave the job, travel a good ways and go wash my hands that will ensure me getting into heaven I didn't think anything like that but you know that this is the state that the Jews are in and you have this arguing going on and you'll see it all the way through the New Testament as far as the Jews are concerned Things that they see and observe as far as Christ is concerned, His power, they just ignore all that and revert back to their works. The history of the Jews is full of the power of God and what God has done, but they just put that aside. Now it's all about ritual, and that's all that matters. People lose their history. They don't know where they're at. They don't know where they've been. They don't know where they came from. These poor kids in our day and time, they don't even know where they came from. They'll celebrate the 4th of July just to have a big celebration. But they don't even understand how we got to the 4th of July, why all that came about, the history of our land. And the Jews just ignore that and have all of their hope of heaven in their works. They're worried about purifying with some water and so forth, and they completely reject the Lord Jesus Christ. He who is the spring of living water himself, living water, and they ignore that. 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 baptizeth, and all men come to him." I don't know if you see this or not, but now this is a treacherous group of people here. They're not asking some innocent question. They're coming to cause John trouble and they're ridiculing John over the fact that Jesus has a bigger crowd, as I mentioned a while ago, has a bigger crowd than him. And that Jesus' ministry is overtaking his. Well, you see their depravity in this, and you see how the human mind works. You know, for us, we hear of some great thing happening in one of the Lord's churches today. We're excited about that. We're happy for it. And we're glad for that. And we'd rejoice in the power of God, but humanity, It's just the opposite. Humanity is jealous. And don't think for a minute that these Jews weren't jealous of Jesus. He's getting the attention now. These Pharisees and these rabbis and all these people, they're not getting the attention that they had. It's going towards Christ and this new thing that's going on. So they want to cause trouble here. They want to cause John, you know, to maybe do something that he shouldn't, maybe out of jealousy, like they feel. They say, you know, that man that was used with beyond Jordan, That man you've been talking about, that you are a witness of, the same baptizeth, and all men come to him. They didn't like the fact that if Jesus was God, they didn't believe that, but if he was God, They didn't like it that John was saying he was God. And that John and others were saying that God himself approves of this new thing that's going on. Well, John answers in verse 27 and said, A man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven. Well, that's a great statement, isn't it? Now, you can draw a whole lot of theology from that statement. He's talking about baptism here, the work of the Lord, but that applies to anything that applies to us as far as grace is concerned. Everything that we are and everything that we have has been given from heaven. Now a man's religion promotes pride. God's religion promotes humility. You know these churches that believe that they're the only ones going to heaven. They're full of pride, aren't they? The Catholics, they're full of pride. They're the only ones going to heaven according to them. If you become a member of their church, you'll go to heaven. If you live like they live, you'll go to heaven. If you believe like they believe, you'll go to heaven. The Campbellites, are just like the Catholics in that regard. Because they don't believe that anybody is going to heaven except you be baptized by them. And if you're around one of those people very long and talk to them about the things of God, you'll see and you'll hear their pride. You'll see it in their face. They're proud of the fact that they decided to be baptized into a Campbellite church and be saved. But John said, a man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven. People accuse Baptists of saying that only Baptists are going to heaven. That's a lie. That's just an outright lie. We believe anybody who trusts in the Lord Jesus Christ is their savior is going to heaven. And we also believe that if anybody does that, it's because they've had the grace of God to do that, given to them from heaven. So we believe like John did, don't we? We need to be careful to believe that about everything. Preacher gets up, preaches one of the best messages he ever preached in his life. He's going out the door, and they're, oh, you preached a great message. That's a great message. That's a great message. Instead of a man's head being swelled up big as a beach ball, he ought to humbly say, well, that was the Lord. It's all the Lord. I'm just a vassal. He did. And that ought to be our attitude as far as anything that is spiritual. He says in verse 28, Ye yourselves bear me witness that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sin before him. You all know what I said. You heard what I said. You heard what I told those people that I've just come into this world My sole purpose was to be one who proclaimed the Son of God is coming to take away sin, to make the atonement for sin. You know that. You know it never was about me. Church ought never be about the pastors. Now, of course, the pastor, as the leader of the church, is oftentimes known as that and regarded as that. Sometimes we'll say, well, last week I went down to Gene Geiger's church down in Bristol. Well, it's not his church, is it? It's not his church. But we say that because they have a position there as a leader. But John said, I'm not anybody to be recognized. And I'm not one that ought to be mad because Jesus has a bigger crowd than I do. He is the one that's all about. He's the head of the church, he's everything. So he calls them out. They're trying to trick him into being upset, but John doesn't fall for that. John is such a spiritual man, he, not for a second even, is concerned about those things. Then he says, he that hath the bride, is the Bridegroom. Christ is the Bridegroom. He started His Church and His Bride will be taken out of His New Testament Church. It's all about Him. My purpose is to glorify the Bridegroom. My purpose is that I preach the gospel, I preach the bridegroom, I preach Christ, and then people are saved, and then they're baptized and added to the church where the Lord will call His bride. That's my purpose. He says, but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. This my joy therefore is fulfilled. People talk about marriages. Maybe a marriage took place ten years ago. Maybe Rogers tell me he went to a wedding. 10 years ago, I said, well, who got married? And he'd mention the bride, and he'd mention the bridegroom. How often have you ever heard somebody say, well, I don't remember who got married, but I remember this guy was the best man. It doesn't happen. They don't have the preeminence. John didn't want the preeminence and it didn't matter really. It doesn't matter. That's not what's important. A man and a woman got married and that's what's important. And that's what took place. And what was important to John was that sinners believe by the power of God and then by his grace come into the Lord's church through scriptural baptism and serve him here. And this is all to the glory of the bridegroom, or to the glory of Christ. But that's where he stands. This friend that he's talking about, or the best man, I believe John's speaking of himself. They're talking about John right here, aren't they? argue, debate over who the friend is. Well, there's no debate because the whole, these last few verses here, they're talking about John. They're talking about John being overshadowed by Christ and how that John ought to be upset over that. And he's explaining that there's no reason to be upset over that. He's a friend of the bridegroom. He's a friend of God. He's a friend of Christ. Christ is not his enemy. And he's not the enemy of Christ himself. He's the friend. And he's doing what he was asked to do. Usually the best man is requested by the bridegroom, picked out by the bridegroom. You don't go to a wedding and just say eeny, meeny, miny, moe. And you know, who wants to be the best man? You know, he picks him out. John, remember, was a man who was sent from God, you see. And he not only was sent to do this work, but he also is sent or called to be the friend or the best man, we say, of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, Doesn't do what he wants to do. He hears him. He knows where to stand. I got asked to do a wedding in Maryland one time, and I drove all the way up there. We had a rehearsal, and I was sitting there. Somebody said, well, what do we need to do? I said, well, you make it. They said, well, we don't know anything about weddings. I said, well, I don't know much myself about weddings. So we had to haggle that out. But everybody got where they're supposed to be. And John was where he was supposed to be. But he greatly rejoiced. because of the bridegroom's voice. He says, this, my joy, therefore, is fulfilled. I couldn't ask for anything else than that. How are we? Could we ask for anything else this morning than where God has put us? I don't believe so. I don't believe. What more could God do? And why should we desire that he do more than what he has determined to do? Some men down through time, we read about them and their ministries. Baptized a thousand people, you read of some people, over a thousand people. Preached to great crowds, 3,000 or 4,000 people at a time and all that. I said, wow. Just look at me. There was this Indian back in the late 50s. He went out into the desert. He was going to practice sending his smoke signals out. And he was sitting up on this hill. He got his blanket and had his fire built and got his blanket and put it over that fire. And just a little puff of smoke went out. Then another little puff of smoke. Well, about that time, several miles over this direction, the US Army was testing a nuclear weapon out there in that desert. Boom! A big mushroom cloud comes out of there and the Indian shook his head and said, Boy, I wish I'd have said that. Sometimes we wish we could have said something. We just do what God has called us to do, enabled us to do, and just go from there.